Yesterday afternoon, in Symphony Hall, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Monteux conducting, gave the fourth concert of its series. There was no soloist.

Of a concert such as yesterday's it is hard to speak with moderation; pages could be written on each of the numbers of the program; but space is limited, and these words must necessarily be totally inadequate.

Brahms' Symphony No. 4 (E minor) stood first on the program. Remarkably fine playing on the orchestra's part helped to give interest to an only fairly interesting first movement; it was the last movement that stood out as a wonderfully ingenious piece of ground-bass work, losing none of its beauty through its ingenuity; the amazingly fine work in this movement certainly confirms the statement that Brahms is the master of variation-form.

Griffes' "Clouds" invites comparison with Debussy's "Images" heard here last year. It seems to gain by the comparison; the "White Peacock" is also a beautiful bit of color work; the more one hears of Griffes the more one becomes convinced that he is the American composer--not that he is distinctively American, but that being an American, he achieves such beauties.

The "headliner", of course, was Saint-Saens' widely heralded "Carnaval des Animaux", strangely enough it fulfilled, even exceeded the high expectations of its hearers. With such economy of means, with never a descent to mere noise, with real beauty, Saint-Saens skips from hen's cackle to donkey's bray, from pianists; technical studies to carping critics' chatter; a masterful piece cl work, and eloquently played. From double-bass to flute the orchestra was superb, Mr. Bedetti, as usual, standing out as a supreme artist. May we not hear their fine sketches again this year?

Last but not least (to be trite), came Glazmov's "Steuka Razine". It is a fine work, equally enjoyable with or without the program. It shows clearly to a Boston audience the difference between artistic treatment of a folk-song and melodramatic claptrap, in its version of the droning Volgar bargemen's song.

Altogether yesterday's concert was the most enjoyable heard here for a long time--which means much, considering Mr. Monteux's genius as a programmaker.