Philharmonic Opening

Arrival. A small & bulgy man stepped of the S.S. Rotterdam in Manhattan last week, faced a battery of cameras, obligingly revealed a shock of springy red hair, grinned far into his freckled cheeks and quickly left the pier. No customs officers molested his baggage, no questions were asked, for he was Josef Willem Mengelberg,* high man in Holland, come once more with diplomatic passport to conduct the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Pressmen followed him, asked hurriedly of concerts abroad, of his villa in Switzerland (with its five subcellars), learned that he had held seance with Conductor Arturo Toscanini at Lake Como, discussed with him plans for the Philharmonic's 86th season./- Next Night. " Opening concerts," said the Philharmonic program, "Nos. 2189 and 2190"; and proceeded to list a Vivaldi concerto, a Rieti concerto, Ferroud's "Foules" and Beethoven's Second Symphony. A great audience, eager to be pleased, found the Vivaldi pleasant; the Rieti clever, inconsequential; the Ferroud noisy, tiresome as the crowds he pictured; the compound undistinguished. Applause, highly in order at the season's first con certs, was given lavishly to Conductor Mengelberg in exchange for his stuffy little bows and to the superb orchestra which he com mands.

*Mynheer Mengelberg and Signor Toscanini share the Philharmonic season, with Guest Conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Bernadino Molinari (TIME. Sept. 19), and Ernest Schelling, leader of the Children's Concerts.

/-The New York Philharmonic is the third oldest orchestra in the world, witness to the comparative youth of the modern orchestra. The London Philharmonic is the oldest, the Vienna second.