Unity in London

People who go to hear Sir Thomas Beecham's brilliant conducting expect to experience some antic interruptions by the maestro, or at least to be distracted a little by the hoarse shouts he directs at his orchestra. Since 68-year-old Sir Thomas' second marriage, in 1945, they can also expect to find his wife, a pianist, as featured soloist.

Wealthy (Beecham's Pills) Sir Thomas has had his way about his favorite soloist, for London's new Royal Philharmonic was his own. (He had organized it because, he explained, "There is no existing British orchestra of a high enough standard to maintain my reputation.")

Last week Lady Beecham was scheduled to play a Mozart concerto with the Royal Philharmonic--but there was a hasty change of plans. She was ill. Impresario Harold Fielding, the Sol Hurok of England, urged Sir Thomas to get a substitute. Sir Thomas tartly refused.

To the audience in Drury Lane Theater, he explained: "I am taking no chances with not getting artistic unity where my favorite composer is concerned. . . . Bruno Walter once told me there were only two people who could play a Mozart concerto--and he was one of them. Wild horses won't drag the other name from me. . . . The combination of my wife and myself is one that cannot be duplicated in 24 hours." Quipped the London Star, in a cartoon next day: "I have got tickets for Sir Thomas Beecham's next speech. I hear he will also conduct some music." Impresario Fielding resigned in a huff.

The controversy raised a question: is Lady Beecham that good a pianist or is Sir Thomas just that good a husband? At ten, Betty Humby was the youngest pupil ever to win a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music. At 14 she had 30 pupils of her own and at 16 she was a piano professor under Myra Hess. As a concert soloist, however, critics rate her as competent, not great.

Out of her class is the pianist Sir Thomas approached at week's end. He asked Pianist Artur Schnabel, perhaps the top living interpreter of Beethoven and Mozart, to play with the Royal Philharmonic next month. Schnabel, who was once Lady Beecham's teacher, declined. He was, he said, leaving London the next day. But, he added slyly, "if it were possible, I would have liked to have taken a chance on a Mozart concerto."

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