$ 1,000 Well Spent

Peter Mennin is a young U.S. composer who refuses to admit he is prolific, even though at 26 he has had four symphonies published and performed, has heard his Third and Fourth praised. When he is commended for his productivity, he points with humility to Mozart, who wrote his three greatest symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, 41) within ten weeks. But tall, mousy-mustached Composer Mennin does admit, "I work hard, very hard."

Last week, a Dallas audience had a chance to judge just how hard Pennsylvania-born Pete Mennin had been working since his Symphony No. 4 last spring. Picked by new Conductor Walter Hendl (TIME, Dec. 26) to compose the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's $1,000 commission-piece for the year, Mennin had come through with Symphony No. 5. In Dallas' last concert of the season, No. 5 shared the program with Beethoven's Symphony No. 3. Mennin's short three-movement work did not have the "Eroica's" earth-shaking vitality, but it did have plenty of vim & vigor of its own.

In the fast first movement, Mennin led the strings and woodwinds over hill & dale on a merry chase, with the brass barking right along with them. The softly-bowed melodic slow movement gave everyone, including the listeners, a few moments of reflective rest. Then, in a galloping finale, the whole orchestra took up the chase again.

If not boldly original harmonically and rhythmically, No. 5 seemed always fresh and not too hard to take. Dallas Times-Herald Critic Clay Bailey wished for "greater contrast among the movements, but the piece's general expressivity and happy variations of rhythm and mood are compensating factors." The Dallas News's John Rosenneld found it "effective in its modest design."

The 2,300 listeners showed, by their ovation, that they thought the $1,000 was pretty well spent.

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