BOOKENDS

MUSIC in its purity is so abstract an art that criticism of it either has been made up of meaningless superlatives and half understood psychological terms, or has become so technical that it is of little use to the layman; and often, as in the comments on symphony programs, it has become a hopeless hodge-podge of the two. With a few exceptions, critics have lacked a training broad enough to comprehend the rational place of music among the other arts and its true relation to life. In fact, musical criticism, especially in the last few years, has been emotional, formless, and unreliable. In the few essays collected for the first time, the late Andrew Fraser has set n example and laid a foundation for the future.

Written while Mr. Fraser was still devoting himself to a mastery of counterpoint and orchestration, these essays show a keen perception and understanding. Whether he treats of Prokofieff or Wagner, he writes with a detached and unwavering judgment. To him the greatest of music is a combination of form and inspiration. Folk songs should not be an end in themselves, but a tool in the hands of a Vaughan Williams or a Chopin for the highest realization of their possibilities. Nationalism in music is for him a fallacy, since music is so universal as to be above political cr even racial boundaries. And Wagner's supreme failure was in his attempt to make music an auxiliary to drama, or to tie the abstract to the particular. Although the essays are slight in scope, their influence has already been great.

"A Bach Book For Harriet Cohen" contains twelve transcriptions from organ and instrumental music by Bach for the piano. Each one is made by a different modern composer of high ability for that great Bach enthusiast, who appeared not long ago as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The choral prelude and choral "Ach, bleth hei uns. Herr Jesu Christ," for instance is done by Vaughan Williams, whereas the Andante of the second Brandenburg Concerto is transcribed by Eugene Geosens. Care has been taken in all cases to keep as near the original harmony as possible. The book should be valuable to anyone who enjoys Bach and likes to play the plane.

The third volume of the Oxford Edition of the Works of Chopin includes the Masurkas, Moreeaux do Concert. Concerios and the Rondean pour Deux Plane. They are all taken from the original Chopin manuscripts, with autographed changes shown in a clear manner. There is an introduction in English French and German which explains the need for such an edition and the difficulties in compiling it. The work in its entirety is probably too expensive and voluminous for most pianists, but should be included in a musical library of any pretensions.