THE BOSTON HERALD, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1948

… Dr. Koussevitsky then gave the first performance of an impressive new Symphony, the 4th by Malipiero. The work is singularly well knit. The effects, such as the use of drone bass, passages for trombones and tuba and solos for English horn, are superbly wrought. The Symphony is a memorial for many things, but melancholy is not brest-beating [sic] or doleful dumps. The Scherzo, for instance, has a wild excitement. There is plenty of contrast, but also a unity of thought that makes this perhaps Malipiero’s finest work and a real find this season.

Gentilissimo Dr, Clausetti, della Quarta Sinfonia le mando le prime critiche ricevute. Mi promettono altre critiche. Appena in mio possesso glie le spedirò.

Spero presto ricevere sue notizie e che ella sia d’accordo con me per il materiale d’orchestra fatto da B. & H. a New York.

Ho scritto (per via aerea) a Koussevitzky comunicando il telegramma di Hawkes. Sono certo che interverrà.

Intanto la prego di definire la cosa perdonandomi la fretta: ho perduto 6 mesi.

Cordiali saluti

G. Franco Malipiero

Venezia 12-III-1948

Santo Stefano 2810

BOSTON POST, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 1948

… It is my guess that the Fourth Symphony (“In Memoriam”) of Malipiero, which has its first performance on this occasion, will be with us for some time to come.

Not all the piece dedicated to the memory of Mme. Natalie Koussevitzky are elegiac in character, but this one is. Into it the Italian composer has poured the suffering and anguish of the war years. The expression however, is restrained and is the more forceful because o [sic] that. Compared with much more modern music, this Symphony is clear, readily assimilated at a first hearing. There are two slow movements; theseco second, marcked “funebre”, and the last, which takes the form of vatiations [sic] on a simple and haunting melody that came to the composer 36 years ago, as he watched a funeral procession wending its way along an Alpine path, while the bells of a nearby church tolled.

THE BOSTON DAILY GLOBE = SATURDAY, FEBRUARY, 28, 1948

… Malipiero’s Fourth Symphony is music of terrible intensity and profound grief, and technically of great mastery and distinction.

Without question, it is one of the finest works commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation and dedicated to the memory of Mme. Natalie Koussevitzky. It is music influenced throughout by the awful ravages of the war and desolation of the post-war years, and although neither brutal nor violent, it is one of the most consistenly [sic] grim scores I ever have heard. Those who wish to be soothed or pleasantly excited will not take readily to it.

Malipiero remarked about his Fourth Symphony that the war ended 200 paces from his house at Asolo, outside Venice, where he composed it. That will give you an idea of his spiritual devastation and hope-against-hope for return of the peace and happiness of life as it was. The Texture is dissonant, but ordered and logical, expressive but not chaotic. All four movements- the first and third suggestion hope, the second and fourth resignation- end in minor; and there is hardly any relief from the weight of crushing sorrow. Given time, this Fourth Symphony may prove a unique, warning memorial of the years when mankind attempted self-destruction.