The White House: An Evening with Casals

After-dinner musicales in the East Room of the White House have been rather distressing in recent years. During the Eisenhower occupancy there were the schmalzy tunes of Hildegarde and Lawrence Welk. Before that, Oscar Levant played for company, but in the family circle there were the shaky soprano of Margaret Truman and her father's ricki-tick piano. Going back to the F.D.R. years, there was Kate Smith. Last week the Kennedys changed all that, with an evening of chamber music that sent shards of rapture through the world of serious music.

Country Cousins....