Superb Sexagenarian

When Edvard Grieg first heard Amsterdam's Concertgebouw (Concert Hall) Orchestra 50 years ago, he exclaimed: "Never have I listened to a better performance." When Richard Strauss first conducted the orchestra, he was so impressed that he dedicated Ein Heldenleben to it.

This week, as the Concertgebouw gets ready to celebrate its 60th birthday, there is only one orchestra in Europe that can approach it in perfection and polish--Vienna's 100-year-old Philharmonic (TIME, March 29). Europe had heard and judged: in the last year, the sprightly Concertgebouw has played 17 concerts in foreign countries. After its London concert, the Daily Mail reflected sadly: "This famous orchestra plays with a keenness and vitality that we are not used to in London." The Manchester Guardian admitted: "We could match its players, but not the quality of execution that could come only of long application under stable conditions."

Beethoven & Refreshments. The Concertgebouw has not always enjoyed stability. It was born privately, like most small-town U.S. orchestras--except that Amsterdam's music-loving burghers built a hall to hear visitors like Brahms and Liszt before they built an orchestra.

For their first concert, the founding fathers rounded up 120 players and 500 singers to give Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. At first the Amsterdam audience was difficult. They came to concerts, but at any hour they pleased, and bringing refreshments. Conductor Willem Kes taught them manners by marching from the podium in mid-concert with the entire orchestra at his heels.

The Concertgebouw learned many a score under the baton of the composer himself--Strauss, Mahler, Hindemith--and many more under guest experts like Pierre Monteux, Ernest Ansermet (TIME, Feb. 2), Bruno Walter. For 45 of its 60 years it felt the sure hand of the same good conductor, Willem Mengelberg. Among his innovations were the great annual Easter performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion and foreign tours for which the Concertgebouw is famed.

Toasts for Hitler. The Concertgebouw kept going through World War II, but not without troubles. Eighteen Jewish musicians were expelled, and Conductor Mengelberg toasted Hitler, played often for Nazi audiences. Today almost all the expelled musicians are back, and Mengelberg, now 77, is retired in Switzerland. The man who has reconstructed the Concertgebouw is black-haired, 47-year-old Eduard van Beinum, who, after learning under Mengelberg for 17 years, is fast becoming one of Europe's ablest conductors.

Van Beinum, a man who likes his Bartok as well as his Bach, doesn't let the famous orchestra show its years in its programming. The Concertgebouw gives contemporary Dutch and U.S. composers frequent hearings; last month, it brought out the first recording of a concert suite from Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes (TIME, April 5).

Van Beinum plans to fly the Concertgebouw on its first trip to the U.S. next year. One American who knows a lot about orchestras has already given his verdict on Amsterdam's. Said Leopold Stokowski, after guest-conducting the Concertgebouw last year: "A superb instrument. . . ."

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