MUSIC BOX

Last night it was the Pierian Sodality (of 1808) that reminded a semi-filled Paine Hall that, war or no war, music still serves as a good selling-point for a Harvard audience.

The Harvard-Radcliffe orchestra, directed by George Brown, gave a program that leaned heavily on the Mozart side, but which featured such lighter touches as selections from Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" and from the Debussy "Petite Suite."

Soloist for the evening was Phyllis Smith (of Wellesley College) whose rendition of the "Recitative and Aria 'Dove Song'" from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" was the highlight of the concert.

Miss Smith returned after intermission to give a group of songs with only piano accompaniment. Although showing a decided weakness on her endings and perhaps a related huskiness on her lower notes, Miss Smith truly hit her peak in the Gershwin songs where her full soprano was able to unbosom itself.

Realizing the complications that must obviously arise from six repeats in the Second Movement of the Mozart Symphony, Chauncey Rushton Skaekle, the 3rd, pointed out the sluggishness particularly evident in the second violin section, that bogged down the light mood of the 35th Symphony.

The surprise of the evening came in the last two numbers where, in spite of the handicap of having rehearsed in a downstairs room of the Music Building and thus being unable to judge the acoustics of a larger hall, the orchestra proved admirably adept in getting across the brilliant tonalities of the Hindemith and Debussy-Busser selections without letting the fortissimos get out of hand.

Carol Bruce may swing out all she wants with the Harvard fellas, but there are still a few that love the classics--even though they don't rate a kiss.