Reunion

The stage lights of Manhattan's Carnegie Hall glared down last week on a frail little man whose cork-tipped baton at first seemed to wave in a rhythm unconnected with the New York Philharmonic's. But after a brief edginess in the opening work, he drove the Philharmonic through Ralph Vaughan Williams' bubbling Symphony No. 8 and made the music chortle, brag, sneer and guffaw with Falstaffian humor in a sheer triumph of spirit. At the end, the audience gave him as warm an ovation as has been heard in Carnegie this year. After 15 years Sir John Barbirolli was back on the podium he had first mounted in 1936 as a bouncy, black-tressed newcomer.

At 37, Conductor Barbirolli, born in London of an Italian father and French mother, drew the overpowering assignment of succeeding Arturo Toscanini at the New York Philharmonic. Despite previous conducting posts in London, Leeds and Glasgow, it was too much, too soon. For seven lean years, Barbirolli tried to impose his rather romantic conducting style on the Philharmonic, while the strong-willed orchestra seemed determined to play as it pleased. Mounting criticism finally forced Barbirolli to leave.

Since then, Barbirolli's steady success has become uncomfortable history to his old critics. In darkest wartime he took over Manchester's draft-shattered Halle Orchestra, built it from 23 demoralized players into one of the smoothest groups in the world. The Halle played close to the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge, has toured incessantly since, giving a staggering 250 concerts a year.

Though in bad health in recent years, Barbirolli has kept up the pace, today has more guest-conducting invitations than he can handle, is currently on a three-month tour of Canada and the U.S. Perhaps Britain's most popular conductor (he was knighted in 1949), Barbirolli recalled last week that he had started his career as a cellist at the age of eleven: "If I can live for the next two years, I will have been before the public as a musician for 50 years. Every man in the public eye must have his ups and downs. They can't let the downs stop them."

After last week's Carnegie Hall concert (also on the program: Pianist Gina Bachauer), weary Conductor Barbirolli faced the audience. Said he: "My dear friends, you can imagine that it is not without great emotion that I return . . . You have made me a very happy man. God bless you." Whereupon Sir John stepped down and threw his arms around the concertmaster.

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