Besprechung der gestrigen Aufführung der 8. Symphonie in The Sun Nr. 90 (New York) auf S. 7:

"           STRANSKY REVIVES BRUCKNER'S MUSIC

     There is occasionally a great to do about the symphonies of Anton Bruckner. Some think we need to be Brucknerized for our own salvation, Mr. Stransky for example. The eighth was unearthed again by him and performed at the third matinee of the Philharmonic Society yesterday afternoon in Carnegie Hall. The composition had been mercifully cut by the conductor, who was once a pupil of Bruckner. A solemn council of Bruckner adorers in Vienna approved the cuts made by Mr. Stransky for a Berlin performance eleven years agone. Information of unofficial character placed the total length of the elisions at thirty-four minutes. There was still much left. [siehe die Anmerkung]

     This eighth symphony was last played here by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Max Fiedler's direction on March 18, 1909. At that time the present writer called attention to the wrong done to Bruckner by accusing him of trying to oppose Brahms. But it has not harmed Brahms. He also said [am 19.3.1909] of the symphony that it "bears the hall marks of Bruckner. Its thematic material is moulded in his familiar patterns. It is rectangular in the allegros and grandiose in the adagios. It is ponderous in the scherzo and pompous in the finale.

     "The harmonic plan is intricate and its design offers little that is profoundly convincing. There are many pages of music made with resolution rather than inspiration and there are passages which approach perilously near to empty commonplace. Finally, the voice of Wagner is heard not infrequently, till in the closing measures of the work it bursts forth in all the pomp and circumstance of the close of 'Rheingold,' and Mr. Bruckner's gods march triumphantly into the Walhalla of Baireuth."

     All of which remains true even unto this day. Nevertheless, as also was said in 1909, this is not a symphony to be sniffed out of consideration. It is the work of a serious artist, whose want of intellectual concentration prevented him from attaining force and directness of expression. His ideas wander through mazes of vain repetitions, and a logical analysis of some of his symphonic movements would surely end in the conviction that they do not necessarily have to come to an end, but might go whirling, like viewless asteroids, forever through the vibrant voids of space.

     We must not dwell on the rearisen eight [sic]. The contrasting slow section of the scherzo is truly beautiful and the slow movement soars to real heights. The audience received the work apathetically. But this should not be recorded as against Bruckner. The Friday afternoon audiences of the Philharmonic Society are excessively decorous in behavior.

     Saint-Saens contributed his "Danse Macabre" and Berlioz his irrepressible "Faust" march to the programme. There was also a soloist, a young person called Greta Masson, whose presence in local orchestral concerts we do not recall. However, she sang [... Arie ...]. At any rate it was an incident in musical activities not requiring critical consideration in this place. Miss Masson was down on the programme for three other numbers, [...], all with orchestra. THE SUN'S musical reviewer denied himself the excitement of hearing the soprano's delivery of them." [keine Signatur] (*).

 

Die New York Tribune Nr. 26676 bespricht dieses Konzert auf  S. 13:

"C Minor Symphony Of Bruckner Given By Philharmonic

                  By H. E. Krehbiel

     Although this is the seaon of hospitality, Mr. Stransky furnished forth but cold cheer at the Philharmonic concert in Carnegie Hall yesterday afternoon. His principal offerings were Bruckner's symphony in C minor, No. 8, and Miss Greta Masson, a soprano singer of the florid type, who made a deplorable essay with the Air, "Charmant Oiseau," [...] and some songs. [... Darbietung der ambitionierten Philharmonischen Gesellschaft nicht würdig ...].

     The symphony also left its hearers cold and unmoved. Though it has been heard here before, it was unfamiliar to the audience, and therefore challenged close attention from those open-minded listeners who are ever eager for revelations of beauty, and especially so when experience and the admonitions of learned pundits have told them that a composer offers profound significances rather than superficial charms. To us it seemed again, as has seemed before, that there is very little reward in Bruckner's work for any kind of hearing. There are in it no depths which conceal æsthetic pearls of great price. Its beauties lie on its surface, and those which are incontestable are to be found in its slow movement; in which respect it is like its companions which have the same paternity. It is also like the poor curate's egg eaten at the table of his bishop–good in parts. Every performance of unfamiliar music under the baton of Mr. Stransky leaves a serious listener in a state of doubt as to whether or not an adequate exposition of its contents has been made. When the work is that of a composer who has challenged respect one wishes that one might be sure that the proclamation has been as complete as it might have been made. There seemed to be no occasion for such disturbing doubts yesterday. The symphony is straightforward though verboise, its utterances free from intricacies of polyphony and abstruse device. We have the assurance of the Philharmonic Society's official analyst and annotator that Mr. Stransky, a pupil of Bruckner's, not only heard its first performance, but often played the symphony for the composer with a fellow-devotee in a four-hand pianoforte arrangement.

     We imagine, nevertheless, that it might have been made to sound a little less monotonous, that there might have been a few more outflamings of those powers which have stirred us occasionally in performances of his seventh symphony, but on the whole the work seemed poor in thematic ideas and uninteresting in development. When it burst into something like eloquence at the close it sang in Wagnerian tones the march of the gods into Valhatta [sic]. Bruckner attached no programatic title to it, though it is a well-authenticated tradition, we believe, that when he wrote it he said that the jocos! movement was delineative of the German Michel, the commonplace type of Teutonic, stupidity, placidity, servility and rude strength. One would have to be as ingenious as was the composer to accept such an interpretation of the Scherzo, or hear anything Promethean in the first movement, such as inspired interpreters have professed to hear. If Bruckner's name is to be kept in our concert lists the "Romantic" symphony, not this, will achieve the task." (**).

 

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Nr. 330 schreibt auf S. 6:

"            YSAYE AT ACADEMY

     Eugen Ysaye came once again [... als Dirigent ...]. He succeeded Dr. Ernest Kunwald in that capacity when the latter gentleman was taken to Fort Oglethorpe as the guest of the United States Government [= Internierungslager]. [... schlechtester Besuch ... Orchester verbesserungswürdig ... schwaches, verschlepptes Dirigat ...].

     Yesterday's Philharmonic matinee in Carnegie Hall brought Bruckner's D [sic] Minor Symphony to this audience for the first time. The work had apparently been carefully prepared by Mr. Stransky, but it would take more than Mr. Stransky to galvanize its dull measures into life. The pity will not down that so great a musical thinker as Bruckner had to share those thoughts with the world under the guise or disguise of so much muddy rhetoric. Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre" and songs for soprano and orchestra completed the program. Greta Masson was the soloist [... Arie und drei Lieder ...]. In the rush to other recitals the writer heard the Bruckner work only." [keine Signatur] (***).

 

Auch die Kurzkritik in The Brooklyn Times (Times Union, Brooklyn) auf S. 2 widmet Bruckner die meisten Zeilen:

"            MUSIC EVENTS

     Josef Stransky, tried like several of the conductors of this and past generations to make Manhattan enjoy Anton Bruckner. He incorporated that composer's Eighth Symphony in his program at Carnegie Hall yesterday afternoon, and met with the same dubious success that has greeted Damrosch, Muck, Thomas Seidl and Fiedler, who first played it in New york, a decade ago.

     Mr. Stransky pruned the score of the symphony quite carefully, but numerous excisions and a cautious reading could not prevent the work from being grandiose. It has the fault of all compositions that are vast in conception, but not great in execution–pomposity. The melody as a rule, is heavy-footed, although many phrases are invested with power and sonority.

     Saint-Saens' "Danse Maccabre," [sic] [... und Berlioz-Marsch konventionell gespielt ... Aufzählung der Gesangsstücke, keine Wertung ...]." [keine Signatur] (°).