Music: Russians in Boston

Said the startled cellist to the conductor: “Are those your metronome marks in the score?” Replied the conductor adamantly: “Yes.” And at that point, reports the Boston Symphony’s First Cellist Sammy Mayes, Russia’s Dmitry Kabalevsky simply “took off.” Composer Kabalevsky was conducting his own cello concerto in Boston, and “he wanted it a lot faster than we usually play it. You start flying around like a young gazelle.”

Kabalevsky’s conducting stint last week was the high point for a touring musical contingent from Russia, including Composers Dmitry Shostakovich, Konstantin Dankevich, Tikhon Khrennikov, Fikret Amirov, and Music Critic Boris Yarustovsky. As they were on their previous stops—Washington,. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Louisville, Philadelphia, New York —the Russians were strenuously entertained in Boston. As usual, they gave no individual interviews, uttered polite platitudes about music. What distinguished the Boston visit was the obvious affection the visitors had for the Boston Symphony, the first U.S. orchestra to tour Russia (in 1956), and for its Russian-born or Russian-speaking musicians. During rehearsals, the Russians filed into the side balcony of Symphony Hall, leaned intently over the railing, and watched Conductor Charles Munch. Kabalevsky and Composer Aaron Copland (who rehearsed his own suite from The Tender Land) alternate on the podium.

Kabalevsky’s somberly flowing Concerto for Cello and Orchestra proved such a hit that the composer-conductor finally signaled to Soloist Mayes. repeated the second movement, a rare procedure in staid old Symphony Hall. Khrennikov’s First Symphony proved to be a broadly melodic crowd-rouser, and Amirov’s Kyurdi-Ovshari Mugami was so heavily coated with schmalzy melody that one listener cracked: “The triumph of the proletariat on Bald Mountain.” Nevertheless, the audience shouted its approval, while the Russians, standing on the stage, applauded the spectators in return. “For Symphony Hall,” said the radio announcer in the control booth, “it’s a rather wild scene.” Said Cellist Mayes: “Musicians are the same the world over; one’s as crazy as the other.”