Again and again Mr. Monteux justifies the sometimes lavish praise which his admirers heap upon him; often he even exceeds their fondest hopes. This he did yesterday afternoon in the fifth Friday afternoon concert of the Symphony Orchestra.

Many of the audience went to the concert more from force of habit than for any other reason; few, certainly, entertained very high hopes for the interest of the concert--Bach, an almost unknown Davico, and a d'Indy Symphony--surely nothing to excite the imagination to any very luscious dreams.

We are all apt to look on Bach as an old standby. Time and again he awakens us to the fact that he is a living and dynamic force. His suite in D major is particularly charming in the first gavotte; only in the beginning did Mr. Monteux seem to make the suite unnecessarily dry; quickly he warmed up to it, however, and brought out to the full its charm and its interest.

Davico's "Polyphemus" possesses the virtue (unusual in symphonic poems) of brevity. Its programmatic element is clear and vivid without being unnecessarily involved an interesting work.

M. d'Indy's symphony rose only a little above expectations, which were not too high; a second hearing might perhaps help to straighten out the some-what intricate thematic tangle. One wonders whether such involved symphonic form can remain as a living thing for long.

The whole concert was, perhaps, enhanced by the announcement of next week's program. After innumerable "why nots" Mr. Monteux will at last play the instrumental parts, at least, of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. There seems no good reason why the resources of the Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society should not be used in such a worthy cause. Mme. Frieda Hempel, of fine reputation, will sing some Mozart arias. Boston will hear, too, Honnegger, of the famous Parisian "six" long awaited hereabouts. Brahms' Academic Overture completes the program, a very noteworthy one, unfortunately (for Harvard men) coming the week-end of the Yale game.