Mischa, Elman, the violinist, playing in Symphony Hall Sunday afternoon, selected a program which was a severe test of his powers. It contained not only the usual sonata and concerto--in this case Handel's Sonata in D major and the Vieuxtemps Concerto No. 5 in A minor--but also a Chaconne of Bach and a Suite by Korngold, incidental music to "Much Ado About Nothing". This latter occupied much of the place usually given to the "nugae canores" which were therefore reduced to two, a Nocturne of Chopin and Jota by Sarasate.

It was not, however, until he was well into the second movement of the Sonata that Elman fully warmed to his work. As a result the first movement seemed hurried, blurred; but the third was ample recompense. Rarely has this Larghetto been so exquisitely played. Under Elman's bow the tone was of ethereal clarity.

The Steinert series of five concerts in Symphony Hall begins next Sunday afternoon with Titta Ruffo, the famous baritone. The dates of the other concerts, all on Sunday afternoons, are as follows: November 5, Sophie Braslau, contralto, and Emilio de Gogorza, baritone; January 28, Frances Alda, soprano of the Metropolitan, and Alexander Siloti, planist: February 18, Alfred Cortot, French planist, and Jacques Thibaud, a violinist fully appreciated only by a small but discriminating public; and on a date to be announced later, John McCormack, popular Irish tenor.