Not fpei Paderewskis Minuet was
twthkted throurhout the lenrth and
hrsadth mi ©*r land, hae any composi
tion. .|M a llrinr musician been as
widely 'popular as Rachmaninoff s
nr Slade The composer came to Mas
sey Hall to five a . piano re
cital and drew ona of the larpeat
audiences that erer assembled to beat
s new-comer to the city. Of course
it was ths Prelude more than any-*
this* else that did it. but thcra is
also the added glamour of the ro
lUnanco that surrounds the man him
self. Only a few years ago when
Russia was oaa of the great artistic
centers of the world, Rachmaninof:
reigned supreme among the musielan:
of that country, and nls fame
composer had spread far ami with j
into other lands. His was one of lh<
names that you thought of when th
glories of the Russian music wen
mentioned. And now* lie is an exile
from the land of his birth, a land
where art is being strangled and ly
* has boon forced to make his home in
phe land of the Philistines, where art
i* regarded as something to be pur
chased with money and exploit with
b ud boatings. Perhaps' that Is the
why the first impression of
Sergei Rachmaninoff one got when
he came upon the platform last night
was that he is a tragic figure. He
is tall and slight with just the trace
,.f a stoop. His close-cropped hair
•♦ml his dilettante gait, as though like
i'ortia he was “a-weary” are more
suggestive of a man of academic as
sociations than an artist of any sort.
He looks a little like one whose en
thusiasms have been dimmed by the
tragic memories.
