THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 171, 21 July 1928, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

GOSSIP OF THE PLATFORM. FROM FAR AND .NEAR. Hv ORL'HKI s , - i Tim New Plymouth Choral >neiety will give Moiilhi;!H! I'liillips' opera, "Tlic Rebel Maul,"' a bout tin: cud of August. Mii'hi ine AVinnie I'mser -\s ill ).,• t fic noprartn iind .Mr. Hubert Carter tin- tenor PoloisL in lJcrlio/.' "Faust" at Wellington on fcepi cnib'T I.'. The Choral I'd ion's reorganised oreliestr» held il ■< first rehearsal last week. Mr. .1. V. Wocalwa rd is now tin; leader, with Miss Laurie Anderson as deputy. The Thiynl AVellinytnn Choral Union in now in active rehearsal for its performance of Hector Uerlioz "Damnation of T"ftu = l,'' which will l>t; <r\von on Kept einbeyl J.i. Keen interest in being taken ).y tin* members in the work, the, average attendance being aliont 'JJU. In addition to (he usual chorus there will Ik- a. chorus ut boys' voices about forty to lifty strong. We iiiidiTstand that the C'ii.v Council 5« at present considering the question of altering the nifc'it of Municipal Band} concerts back to Saturday. Jn mr opinion tho Council made a mistake in changing over to Wednesday evening, and should they decide 1:» return t<> the original night there is very little doubt that the Hand would be better patronised. I Anyone glancing over the new musical section of tho Auckland Public Library cannot fail to realise the great asset Mr. Lewis Eady's gift will prove td musical people. The reading library has proved so popular that it is to be wondered that the authorities did not realise long before this that a musical library would he almost equally popular. Air. Ead.v, in tilling the breach at this late hour, is to be congratulated upon a very useful piece of public service. •1 us' as doctors very often take a graduate" course of instruction, so do : professional singers in other parts of thej world seek from time to time advice from i competent teachers so as to correct I errors of production into which they may ha\e fallen. After listening to a great number of singers both from the concert platform and over tho air making grave errors of production, pronunciation, and intonation, 1 fancy there must bo inany people wishing that some of our local artists would follow a similar course, and do both themselves arid the public a service. Verb- sap. Eugene Goossens, the famous composer, now permanently settled at Rochester, U.S.A., where he is the head of the School of Music and conductor of the Phil-harmonic Orchestra, is as usual spending his summer vacation in England and Europe. lie has been engaged iri composition, and his only conducting 5n London will be the making of some gramophone records. In August he will return to Los Angeles to conduct eight concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, a huge natural amphitheatre where famous musicians are heard by audiences of twenty thousand and more. Goossens •will also later conduct six concerts at Detroit and sixteen next winter at St. Louis. Jn his capacity as a radio fan, the writer would like to deliver himself of a grouch, l'ieces which occupy two or more sides of a gramophone record are very often spread over different parts of tho programme. That is to say, one hears the first part of a big Chopin number, and then linds that the second part has been reserved as a subsequent item. Sandwiched in between the two are, pay, '".Do Shrimps Make Good mothers?" and a saxophone solo, "I miss my Swiss." To say the least of it, this is a trifle disconcerting. A musical composition has such a thing as form, and to cut it in two in this crude fashion is liko cutting a painting in two and hanging half o* it in the kitchen and the other half in the conservatory. Mr. John Bishop, the new conductor of tho Royal Wellington Choral Union, is a keen advocate of ''musical reciprocity" between the various societies in tho Dominion. As both the Auckland and Wellington societies have given "Elijah" this year, the writer suggests that the Auckland Choral Society should invite tho Wellington Choral Union here, and Ihat the combined societies give both "Elijah" and "The Messiah" at the end of the year, the visiting conductor tc conduct say "KMjab,' - and Mr. Colin Muston "The .Messiah." The following year Auckland could return the compliment. Theso "Festival" performances would undoubtedly give a tremendous fillip to choral singing throughout the Dominion. 1 should like to add that should this suggestion come to a happy consummation, and the Koyal Wellington Choral Union visit us, we on our part couK guarantee to provide Mr. Bishop with an adequate supply of* batons, if sufficient notice were given. Tn glancing through an English periodical recently, the writer was struck by the numbers of advertisements for bard competitions. In England, especially in the North, these competitions are exceedingly popular, and are regarded as sporting events as much a-, anything else. Nevertheless, they do much to foster a taste for music among the masses. Each town lias its hand (the larger cities have two or three, and sometimes more), which is trained by a resilient. bandmaster. With the approach il 1 lie com pet il ion season, an expert i, called in to ; in the finishing touch-.— and bring the band up to a - a, pitch of cllieii ni-y as possible. Then the various towns hold competitions., inviting I'Mids from other places, and the whole -iM--.il is run more or less to schedule i r ' <•;•! rto 'i\o!,l flashing of dates. Great ■ el iii's,.! sm and a considerable amount of i i wih v la evoked among the people, with 'be result thai music as a whole is placed on a jirm foundation of widespread popular interest. Something of the sort might very well 1m: done in Auckland. '1 he various bands in the city in:ght form a Hand League, and each one ho-d a competition on its own ground on a Saturday afternoon, inviting the othere to compete, and offering small priae money. This spirit of rivalry would soo» tend to arouse interest, and band competitions, if the English system is any criterion, v on Id come to be looked upon as a fori:.' of sport. It is somewhat superfluous to remark that the people of New Zealand as a whole are more interested in than in anything else, and it night well lie used in this case as a meals of furthering the cause of popular nusic.

Mr. W. E. Caldow, who suffered & breakdown in health after the "Elijah 1 ? concert in Wellington, left for a trip by the Jofua last Saturday. We wish hirn a calm sea and a prosperous voyage."

The programme for the Municipal Band Concert on the 2oth of this month will consist of the following iteme: — '■rand Fantasia from Fulicien David's Symphonic Ode "The Desert": Overture, •'Alignon'"; descriptive intermezzo! •from a Russian Village" (Evan Marsdenl; 1' uncial March of a Bumble Bee" iKvan .Marsden); descriptive fantasia. Highland Scene'' (Uooivi, and an American sketch. "By the Suanee River" ( Myddleton). lhe vocal numbers will be an follow: —Quartet, "Dusk of (Kasthope Martini, by the "Minster" Singers; song, "The Two Grenadier*"' (Schumann), Mr. Rov Stephenson; cpiarfet, "Here's a Paradox for Lovers" (Ldward German), bv ine Minster Singers, and a song, "Meadowsweet" (May Brahei, by Miss Maida Davi.-uii. The synopsis of "The Desert'' is as follows:—Solitude in the Desert, The Simoon, Tempest in the Desert. Tins Caravan, Night, Arabian Fantasia, Dance of the Ahnees, The Freedom of the JXvcrt, An Evening Reverie, Finale.