Reservations in Edinburgh

The New York Philharmonic-Symphony is used to being called one of the "great" orchestras of the world--whether it chooses to play Bach, Beethoven or Bartok. The British verdict on the Philharmonic last week, after two Edinburgh Festival performances: good, with reservations.

In particular, the British seemed to think the Philharmonic ought to leave the classics to others and stick to the 20th Century.

Veteran Conductor Bruno Walter led the orchestra the first night, drew an overflow crowd of 3,000 (300 standees). He reached back more than a century for his first two numbers: Weber's Euryanthe overture and Mozart's Symphony No. 39. Edinburgh applauded but was hardly swept away. But in the second half, Walter & Co. won a real ovation with Mahler's powerful Symphony No. 4 (1901). Fusing strings perfectly with the horns, the visitors gave Mahler* a sheen that few Britons had heard before. They whistled and shouted, called Conductor Walter back to the podium six times.

Dimitri Mitropoulos, the Philharmonic's permanent conductor, took command for the second performance. Britons watched him with amazement. In characteristic Mitropoulos style, he used no baton, conducted with elbows, fists, hunched shoulders and lean-faced grimaces. After the first half of the program (Beethoven's Coriolanus overture and Symphony No. 4), Britons exchanged dismayed reactions in the lobby: "What an extraordinary way to conduct! Did you see the way he jigged during the vivace?"

But once more the Philharmonic came back strong in the second half, this time with a brilliant performance of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 (1944). At the end, the audience clapped frantically, brought Mitropoulos back three times.

Said the London Times in summary: "Mr. Mitropoulos [gave] a performance of Beethoven's fourth symphony which could only be described as hateful ... The finale was taken at such a pace that a public reconciliation between the conductor and the bassoonist after it was over was certainly called for. But after we had been shown in Beethoven what the visitors could not do, we had an exhibition ... of what they could do ... We must needs be grateful."

So far, one of the biggest hits of the Edinburgh Festival is young (27) U.S. Tenor David Poleri. A Philadelphian who began to study voice only five years ago, Poleri got little attention in his own country until he made his debut in Manon at the New York City Opera this spring (TIME, April 2)--and had some listeners mentioning him in the same breath with Caruso. As Don Alvaro in Verdi's bloody La Forza del Destino last week, Poleri had the same kind of effect on Edinburgh. Wrote the critic of the London Daily Express: "The kind of tenor singing which an opera addict is lucky to hear once in five years."

Another Caruso? Not yet, says Conductor Fritz Busch, who picked Poleri for Forza, but he has many of the attributes. "Poleri sings from where Caruso used to --around the waistline. His voice comes up with depth and timbre. But it's just as important that he's filled with limitless ambition to do the right job, the good job, to get across the exact effect. And he listens to advice. Will he become truly great? He ought to unless he's mishandled during the next two or three years."

* Who has a special niche in Philharmonic history: he was its conductor for the last two years of his life (1909-11).

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