Promenade Concerts. A concert of quite exceptional interest was given last night, tho programme of which was made up entirely of works by living British composers. Those who have been for many years under the impression that the English publio was iadia-erent to the attractions of its native musio must have been considerably surprised last night by the large audience and by the eathusiasm displayed. It may be hoped that, if the culpable negleot of English music from which we have suffered was really due to the apathy of the public, and if this cause was not merely alleged by the various managera as a useful excuse for not giving music a little out of the common, a better day may be dawning for English art in the -way of the accept- ance of the fiuest English music by those who cater for the amusement of the public. In England we are so afraid of incurring the charge of Chauvinism or of in- sularity that we are slow to realize the relation in which our own composers stand to their continental contenx- poraries. To say in sober earnest that no other country in Europe, or indeed in the world, could produce so varied and beautiful a programme as that of last night must savour of exaggeration to a good many people, yet that such was actually the case can hardly be denied. A concert by living German oomposers, nowv that the giants| have departed from that favoured land, would be made up of little beside weak imitations of Wagner and dry-as- dust examples of pedantry without inspiration; from living French composers, apart from Saint-Sa3ns, we should expect, and no doubt receive, a number of ex- cessively trivial compositions varied by occasional excur- sions into a style in which ugliness has been sought for ugliness' sake; and, without drawing upon the works of Tschaikowsky, even the devotion of, the Queen's-hall management to Russian music would be strained to avoid monotonous reiterations of the purely conventional tricks by which a feeling of mnelancholy is so easily excited in the English breast. A representation of Italian or of Scandinavian composers, in like manner, would result in an impression of tedium arising from those national characteristics which distinguish the music of both races. The unprejudiced listener must surely con- fess that such qualities as the strength, originality, and masterly construction of Parry's symphonio variations, the deep and sincere feeling of Stanford's overture to Wdipus RCr, of Mackenzie's " Benedictus," of Cliffe's ballade from his symphony in C minor, or of MacCunn's overture," Land of the Mountain and Flood," the dainty grace of Cowen's "Butterfly's Ball " or German's Henry VIII. dances, the character and individual colouring of Coleridge-Taylor's ballade in A minor, could be found among the living composers of no other eountry under heaven. Without attempting to gauge the relative merits of these masters, it must be clear to the least observant that here is a show of creative power such as the rest of the world could not bring forth. In most cases, if not quite in all, the pieces chosen were repre- sentative of the writers at their best. Happily the one novelty of the programme vwas thorougbly charoteristio of its author's fiest and most vigorous mood. Dr. Elgar's pair of military marches, " Pomp and Circumstance," have the right sort of swing, are admirably scored, and pleased the audience so hugely that the second had to be repeated; the melody of its trio is of a kind that even the uneducated can grasp at once, and both pieces are stirring and spirited in no ordinary degree. It is satisfactory to notice that the fashion of writing " programme-music "-or " donkey- music," as Rubinstein called it-is apparently on the wane among the English composers ; the only instance of its occurrence in the programme was in Mr. Percy Pitt's suite, Cinderclla, a little work of undeniable charm, well fitted for the lighter part of such a programme,. How excellently this most interesting programme 'was played under Mr. Wood's direction need not be said. It was well, for this frst occasion on whicb such a pro. gramme has been ventured on, to restrict the choice to those composers whose names are more or less familiar to concert-goers, but on a future occasion, of which let us hope there will be many, the opportunity should not be missed of illustratinig the works of the scores of excel- lent writers for whom there was no room in this concert. Some few more names of distinction thanthose already mentioned -were included in the vocal part of the pro- gramme, such as those of Landon Ronald, Liza Lehmann, and others, whose songs -were sung with much success by Miss Florence Schmidt, Mr. Joseph O'Mara, and Mr. I-rarry Dearth. Between the parts of the programme a clever new invention was shown in a room adjoining the balcony lobby. It is the latest attempt to record automatically music as it is played on the piano. In the " pianotype," as he calls it, Mr. Neale, the inventor, has succeeded far better than his predecessors in pro- ducing a record which is quite easily translated into a readable musical notation, and the apparatus, a cabinet conneoted with the piano by electricity, is not unsightly. PROMENADE CONCEBTS.