ORCHESTRAL UNION CONCERT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 107, 8 May 1896, Page 5

ORCHESTRAL UNION CONCERT.

By Diogenes.

I Mcsic appears to be tbe most exacting of j all the arts, the most difSculb to cultivate, and thab of which the productions are moßb rarely presented in a condition which permits an appreciation of thoir real value. Of all producing arbiaba the composer ia almost the only one whose fate depends upon a multitude of intermediate agents between the public and himself—agents either intelligent or stupid, active or inert, capable of contributing to the brilliancy of his work, or of disfiguring ib, misrepresenting it, and even destroying ib completely. What, then, ia bo be said of an amateur orchestra, composed of men whose language is bbc language of the Stock Exchange, whose thoughts are of the rise or fall of prices, or the insufficient number of public holidaya, or whose talk is of bullocks. Wall, there ia no reason why these gentlemen, coming before the public as appellants to the public opinion, should be judged in any way different from the people who appear as professional men, whose livelihood depends upon their success, and to whom a favourable verdict is of the highesb importance. Thab being so, leb us consider the programme offered to us last night ab the Choral Hall and the performance thereof.

The firsb ibem was an overbure of a singularly trivial character, possessing one melodious passage, bub reminding one all bhrough of a melange fitted for the enjoym.nk of an enlightened music hall audience. The annotation appended to the printed programme will scarcely meet the approval of parsons accustomed to hear and understand music of a higher order. There can be little doubb that such a feeling was the general result last night, for the overture was coldly received. After the overture followed a singular performance which, unless the symbol of some ceremony unknown bo the public, had a somewhat grotesque aspect. The custodian of the hall advanced and placed a large nosegay at the foob of the conductor. There may hove been some recondite reference to tbe status of landlord and tenant in thia proceeding, aa the Duke of Wellington presents a white rose to Her Majesty ab Christmaa in recognition of bhe ieudal tenure under which he holds one of his grants, bub bhe meaning was not apparent to the uninitiated in the case of the Choral Hall tenure, and, indeed, the tribute waa reversed in its rendition. Then followed a song entitled " The Closing of the Day," sung by a lady who has an excellent voice, and perfecb intonation, bu. whoso efforts are greatly marred by, apparently, an incapacity to come on to a note wibhoub a preliminary slide up if the note is ab all high in the scale. Thia habib is a very unhappy one and difficulb of cure. Considering the gifts which nature has given to our songstress ib would be well worbh her while to devote a few mon tha' ebudy to learn what Berlioz expresses, " planter bien les notes."

And hero we venture to say that a song of thia description ia better without an orchestral accompanimenb. The harp or the pianoforte is peculiarly fitted as the aid oi the voice, a« it ia an instrument of harmonies, and although a singer of a song prefers the violin accompanimenb, because, withoub reflection, he perceives thab ib .8 more perfectly in tane than a pianoforte accompaniment (for it ia an instrument of compromise), yeb the singing to the latter instrument is less onerous than the contest with a full band, which ia very apb to develop into a change of functions, the voice accompanying the band instead of the band the voice. Miaa White's song waa much over-orchestrated.

Mozarb'a symphony in E flab went as a symphony must go where the second violins, with the exception of the leading second violin, are incompetent, and the bassoons timid or absent. In truth, with the exception of the adagio, this symphony waa nob satisfactory. Even the andante, very beautiful music, was greatly marred by the weakness in precision and tone force of the Becond violins. The music makes greab demand upon the stringa, which are here more than usually important, and surely atrong language from the listeners may be pardoned when one third of every chord ia marked by a magnificent flash of indecision. The violin solo of Mons. de Willimoff waa delightful for the listenera. There waa nothing to jar upon one's sensibilities, the music being clear, and honestly performed, withoub any tricka which excite curioaity, but are sometimes thought to be a profanation of the greatest of artß. M. Willimoff'a violin, aa leader of the orchestra, waa clearly heard throughout the evening aa excellent in tone and perfect in every quality thab Bhould distinguish a leader. One regrets, of course, the absence, and the cause of the abaence, of our old friend Mr Hemua, but it ia a great comforb to find his place so ably filled. The " Minnie" waltz went well, and the weakne_B of the aecond violins waa nob so diatincb as in the other music, for the have" the weak notes of a bar to play, and whether they play them or nob is of less consequence. We , scarcely agree with the annotation of the programme, for the composition struck us as Gungl and Water.

Tbe aelecbion from Carmen was as satisfactory aa selections generally are. Bub the necessary substitution of a keyed instrument for the human voice cannob be wibhout objection. The most abbractive parta of an opera being selected and joined together by a few notes of modulation to enable the air to pass on without pain from one key to another, Buffices merely to remind the person who has heard the opera, of the acenea and acting thathe haspreviously witnessed, or to asaian.the person who has not heard it, in imagining what it is like, and thinking whab the plot may be. The long soloa for the voice—at least we presumed they were solos—were only made tolerable by the admirable manner in which Mr Hunber played them. He waa well seconded, by the way, in the bass or baritone solos by the gentleman who played a big aaxe horn, a euphonium probably. Cannot the Orchestral Union, who show much good taste and moßb praiseworthy enterprise, give 08 a Bymphony of Beethoven ? The price paid for *' Carmen " would surely purchase one or more of Beethoven's symphonies. Mr Reid Bang the "King's Minstrel" exceedingly well, as he alwaya sings, bub he waa oppressed by the superabundance of tbe orchestral accompaniment. Ib struck ua bhat the gentleman who .cored the music for the baud, had never sung to a band himself, or he would have been more considerate. Mr Reid struggled well with his difficulties and a recall was with difficulty avoided. A robusb tenor is nob- an abundanb class of voice, bub ib is very welcome. By the way, the accompaniment bo a voice in octaves or in uniaon of a flute ia rarely sanctioned by composers. If a uuison with a voice is needed, a stringed instrument should furnish ib, A wind instrument assumes ab once bhe manifestations of a competitor.

A completion of Mozart's Symphony followed. This part was very good, especially bhe minueb.

Miss White's second song suggests a recurrence of the same observation that waa occasioned by her first song. Then came the gem of tha evening —Weber'a "Invitation to the Waltz." Weber is the only one of the old masters who never descended below his level. La melody he excelled all, although he could nob work up asubjecb as Beethoven did. He aeema to have been conscious of thia himself, for he avoided composing music in which that greab faculty was absolutely required. All bhe mighty men eeem to have had some parti.

oular quality in which bhey were deficient. Thusßeethovencouldno. writeafugue. The concluding chorus in bis greab maaa ia an abbempb aba fugue, bub ib is generally admitted to bo a failure as Buch. His most perfecb fugal passage is in one of his string quartettes, but ib is nob and could nob be a fugue in its true sense. Suffice ib to say thab Weber waa unequalled in whatever he atbempbed. He wrote the finest opera, and perhaps the noblest mass (B flab). We could wish that a nobler title had been given to this greab work before us, bub, n'importe, tb6 music ia as good as if it had had a grander titie. And here we had a chance of finding oub whab a good society this Orchestral Union is, and how carefully ib haa been trained. Even the aecond violins struggled manfully with their passages. The cornebs played with skill and judgment, and bhe wood instruments of wind were, aa they always are, excellent. The violincellos seemed to pub on new power, and their exquisite passages at tho opening and close were well played, and without the exhibition of a desire to make their instiumenb appear boo prominent. The delighb of bhe audience; was well attested by the expression of bhe J faces as one looked along tbe row of moveless listeners, and people would well have liked to have heard the piece over again. And now one word aboub the conductor. The abbenbion to the pianos and fortes that was evidenced all through the evening, attesba well the delicacy of hia ear, and the care that he has bestowed in the training of hia band. Thab thiß duty has not been without anxiety and care, might be perceived by tho constant attention which he gave all through the evening to his second violins. In truth, ib is not improbable bhab the marked notice which ha took of them, sometimoa beating time ab bhem, might have had the effect of causing nervousness, and increasing bheir weaknecs. The conductor has to criticise the error and defects of each of hia army during the rehearsals, and to organise the resources at hia disposal in each so as to derive the besb he can from them. In the public performance he has to beat the time. ' The Bis_Dß that the conductor should make ought to be very simple. Generally they are so, bub in case of slow bhree bime when he has to subdivide and beat aix, too much motion often creates confusion, and the ore esbr a is liable to mi3s the leading markß of a bar. Mr Towsey may be remarked as having the qualification of appearing to fix his aspirations to making his orchestra play well and in time, withoub a thoughb of exhibiting himself. In bruth bhis self-abnegation, not always bo be meb with, is of essential excellence in a conducbor. We observed bhab Mr Toweey'a lefb hand was rarely employed, being kept quiescenb. Occasionally the hand was raised to notify attention to a P. or a PP. and then, being rarely uaed, was immediately effective. Wagner's idea was a good one, thab the conductor should be invisible except to the performers, and ab the greab opera houses the C3nducbor ia invisible. Whab ia more distressing than to see a conducbor spreading hia arms about, and causing them to revolve ab large in a manner which, being consbanb, loses all meaning, ia nob a-sbhetic to the audience, and ia confusing to the musician.

We missed the beautiful music of the Liedertafel. What iB the cause that they were nobpreaent? If they they had beon singing their exquisite songs, the concert would,have lefb little to desire—bub there is nothing in thia world which is so good thab desire for something else deserta us.: