ONLY two works made their first appearance during last week's Promenade Concerts. One was Roberto Gerhard's violin concerto during the second half of Friday's Beethoven night, and On the previous Monday Lennox Berkeley conducted a performance of his "Four Poems of St. Teresa of Avila", The Albert Hall is not exactly the best place for a performance of this latter work, which is lightly scored for strings and contralto. and much of the nuance and delicacy is lost in it. However, tha soloist. Nancy Evans, and the strings of the BBC Symphony Orchestra were able to convey much of the melodic inventiveness and originality. which has made this one of Berkeley's most respected works. Listening to a performance of the work in one's own home on the excellent recording available is far more rewarding.
The remainder of the programme —conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent—included Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 5 and Rachmaninov's C minor Piano Concerto with the veteran Moiceiwitsch as soloist. He still has the magical touch of a master in certain passages, but there is a lack of decisiveness and fire. C.H.