Triumph Abroad

May Day parades are hardly designed to celebrate the bonds of friendship between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. Yet in Tbilisi, Communist marchers repeatedly slowed their procession to applaud members of the Cleveland Orchestra, peering like conventioneers from the windows of the Hotel Tbilisi. As one Tbilisian put it, inviting the musicians to join him in a drink: "Viet Nam, nyet! But you, yes!"

The first U.S. orchestra to visit Russia in six years, the Clevelanders were feted and fawned upon. In Moscow, at the opening of the five-week tour, the audience summoned Conductor George Szell back for 20 curtain calls and four encores, rhythmically clapping and chanting "Glory! . . . bravo! . . thanks!" They relented only when Szell ordered his 107 musicians off the stage.

Also Jam Sessions. In the Armenian capital of Yerevan, hundreds of fans attempted to batter their way into the concert hall, and heavy police reinforcements had to be rushed in to quell the riot. Pianist John Browning, 31, whose brilliant interpretation of Barber's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was one of the critical highlights of the tour, attracted an avid following of young girls, who stormed the stage crying "John, John . . . oh, John!" When Violinist Gino Raffaelli was spotted on the street, the volatile Armenians demanded an impromptu sidewalk recital. He complied.

In Moscow and Kiev, after an evening of Brahms and Mozart, several of the musicians adjourned to the youth cafes to sit in on jam sessions with the local hipsters. In Tbilisi, the orchestra was treated to a sumptuous banquet and serenaded by Georgian folk singers. The only sour note of the tour was sounded privately by the musicians, who rightfully questioned Szell's generally lightweight selection of American works, including two insipidities by Composers William Grant Still and Herbert Elwell, a native of Cleveland.

Mutual Feeling. The maestro himself, whose rapier tongue is legendary, was the very model of a cultural ambassador. When fans nearly jostled him off his feet at the Moscow Conservatory, he blithely passed the episode off as "a warm and interesting experience." The feeling was mutual; critical acclaim for the orchestra was nothing short of rapturous. Izvestia was alternately "enthralled," "fascinated" and "inspired."

Last week, winding up the tour with three concerts in Leningrad, the Cleveland Orchestra had scored one of the biggest successes in the history of the cultural-exchange program. There were still five weeks of concertizing in Western Europe yet to come. But as Conductor Szell exclaimed: "What more could one ask?"

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