Part II opened with a suite in F Major for orchestra (op. 39) by
Moszkowski. This was much more clear and, in every way, interesting
than the Beethoven; every now and then there were passages that were
pleasing, not to say more. Jones liked it better than I did; still,
one could not feel that any of the movements were the mere drivelling
show stuff of which the concerto had been full. But it, like
everything else done at these concerts, is too long, cut down one-
half it would have been all right and we should have liked to hear it
twice. As it was, all we could say was that it was much better than
we had expected. I did not like the look of the young man who wrote
it and who also conducted. He had long yellowish hair and kept
tossing his head to fling it back on to his shoulders, instead of
keeping it short as Jones and I keep ours.
Then came Schubert's "Erl Konig," which, I daresay, is very fine but
with which I have absolutely nothing in common.
And finally there was a tiresome characteristic overture by Berlioz,
which, if Jones could by any possibility have written anything so
dreary, I should certainly have begged him not to publish.
The general impression left upon me by the concert is that all the
movements were too long, and that, no matter how clever the
development may be, it spoils even the most pleasing and interesting
subject if there is too much of it.
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