Music: Batons Up!

Four backs turned briskly on four smart audiences, four batons tapped attention almost simultaneously and a new U. S. music season last week was fairly under way. Fortnight ago Detroit and San Francisco stole marches, staged their opening symphony concerts ahead of other cities. Detroit displayed all its old show of affection for Conductor Ossip Gabrilowitsch. San Francisco's concert, under Russian Issai Dobrowen, suffered from the poor acoustics of the Tivoli Opera House (used symphonically for the first time), but there was the added feature of tea served on the stage by the Symphony Association's Women's Auxiliary. The four opening concerts given last week were by the great orchestras in Manhattan, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston.

Manhattan paid its first-night court to Erich Kleiber, Berlin conductor who appeared in the U. S. for the first time last year, managed to wear the seven-league boots of Arturo Toscanini without disastrous stumbling. Philharmonic-Symphony subscribers appeared to approve last week the re-engagement which Conductor Kleiber had earned by his painstaking musicianship, his intelligent, energetic sponsoring of new works, his amiable personality. Reconciled now to beginning the season without the great Toscanini, they seemed to take a solid satisfaction in Kleiber's clear, vigorous interpretations, particularly in his reading of a crinkling Suite for Chamber Orchestra written as dinner music by German Georg Philipp Telemann, a prolific contemporary of Bach. Few saw occasion this year (as many did last year) to compare Kleiber with the incomparable Toscanini. Kleiber is big-shouldered, makes militant, jerky gestures where Toscanini is gracefully electric. Kleiber takes gratefully the applause which is chaff to Toscanini, nor was his performance last week so exciting as to detract all attention from the former Anna Case, now the wife of the Philharmonic's chief guarantor, Clarence Hungerford Mackay, or from the new concertmaster, Mishel Piastre, a humpty-dumpty-figure, all shirt front, whose violin sounded a full, sensuous tone. Toscanini furnished excitement from Switzerland. He was through with Bayreuth, he cabled. The Wagner sanctuary was for him now nothing but a "banal theatre." Henceforth he would conduct only Manhattan's orchestra.

Philadelphia's first concert is never complete without some stunt by Conductor Leopold Stokowski. Stokowski played superbly four of his own transcriptions from the early classical composers Monteverdi, Lulli, Purcell, Vivaldi. Then, at intermission, he begged his audience to stay and "listen to the birdies." The birdies proved to be two giant oscillators which shrieked and yowled into microphones for the purpose of showing Stokowski how his broadcasts will sound this year coming from a crowded auditorium. Again the Philadelphia (Philco) Storage Battery Co. will sponsor Stokowski's radio-concerts. Other Philadelphia Orchestra conductors will be Toscanini, Bernardino Molinari, Fritz Reiner, Alexander Smallens.

Boston does not believe in guest conductors. To her complete satisfaction King Sergei Koussevitzky opened the home season with a magnificent blend of Bach, Brahms, Cesar Franck, Ravel. Late in October he will take the orchestra on tour to Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Ithaca.