The 26th ISCM Festival at Salzburg

Extract

“Thirty years ago, from Salzburg, the good ship ISCM set out on her maiden voyage” said Edward Clark, the President, in his introduction to the Festival. “We return in 1952 to our port of departure, with colours flying and a cargo of treasure as rich as ever was mined in any similar period.” This year's cargo, however, though possibly a record as far as quantity was concerned, turned out to be of pitiable quality. The vast majority of works performed (and often very badly performed) did not deserve a single hearing; again and again one had to listen to ‘com-positions‘ in the literal and rather unmusical sense of the word, sub-professional attempts to put together, more or (far) less successfully, completely undistinguished material. It is difficult to give the innocently curious reader an adequate picture of this orgy of incompetence; suffice it to say that any of the experimental evenings of our Society for the Promotion of New Music is likely to prove more fruitful than were most of these festive events.