Boston Symphony and the Glee Club

The Boston Symphony Orchestra plays more than its share of unfamiliar compositions, but it seldom rallies all its forces as impressively as it did yesterday for Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex," a work scored for mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone and speaker as well as chorus and a full Stravinsky-sized orchestra. The effort was definitely worthwhile. There may be arguments about the style and form of the "Oedipus Rex," but there surely can be none about its interest to listeners on almost any level of musical training.

Stravinsky calls the work an "opera-oratorio," but as presented yesterday, without scenery or action, it seems to fit more closely into the latter category. It tells the Oedipus story in an abbreviated form, with the chorus playing about the same part that it does in the play and each of the male singers taking several roles. Although the text is in Latin, a speaker breaks in with details of the plot in English a few times during the performance.

From the point of view of form, this produces a mixture. The piece is kept from the oratorio class precisely by its subject, which is too eventful and dramatically intense for an oratorio. One cannot help wishing for a physical reaction from the characters as the events of the tragedy unfold: but all they do is stand there and sing.

Not that the work is undramatic. With such forces at his command, Stravinsky does not fail to write a work that is extraordinarily forceful, directed, and climactic. Musically such features as brisk contrapuntal sections for the chorus, brilliant duet and solo-against-chorus writing, and a beautiful under-statement of the last words of both Oedipus and the onlookers make a performance of the work a moving and exciting occasion.

The high points of the composition come for this listener at the conclusion of the first and second acts, when the chorus and orchestra combine in a variety of massive effects that shake the audience in its seats. There are weak points in the composition--occasional almost move-music techniques, for example--but the work as a whole is superbly concentrated and consistently tightly written.

Sergo Koussevitsky did a masterful job with his orchestra and chorus yesterday, and the soloists, Carol Brice, David Lloyd (tenor), James Pease (baritone), and Wesley Addy (speaker) were better than good. The Harvard Glee Club was at its best in voice and control for the occasion. Before the main event Dr. Koussevitzky and orchestra gave their customarily rigid performance of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, the first and last movements of which remain to this critic deserts of brisk but avid content.