WORLD OF MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 187, 9 August 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

WORLD OF MUSIC.

GOSSIP OF THE STUDIOS.

FROM FAR AND NEAR.

(By ORPHEUS.)

Mr. Christopher Smith, bandmaster of the Auckland Municipal Band, is at work on a symphony, which he expects to finish and produce at a later date. The Scherzo movement was played by the band at a recent concert, and was wellreceived by the audience. Mr. Smith is such a busy man that he does not always manage to find the time for musical composition. He has, however, composed several shorter pieces during the past few years, which have been performed at one time or another by the band.

One of the main features of Music Week will be the community singing which will be held in the Town Hall every luncheon hour, from 12.30 to 1.30. This should help to remove any feeling of stiffness that may result from the (necessarily) strictly ordered nature of the week's doings. In making up the programme, the committee seem to have clone their best to cover every possible branch of music, and to appeal to as many shades of taste as possible.

Mr. Hubert Carter has not been heard in Auckland for some time, but, as usual, he has been having a busy time in the south. On July 23 he gave his seventh grand concert in Wanganui, assisted by his pupils. His engagements for ■ the near future include: "Hiawatha" (New Plymouth, September 6), "Yeoman of the Guard" (Wanganui, first week in October), "The Desert" (Wanganui Male Choir, November 19), and Wanganui Music Week (August 19). Mr. Cartelintends. to go to America as soon as possible, but is held up at present on account of difficulties in regard to the quota. However, he expects to be able to get away in about twelve months' time.

Hugh Arthur Scott, writing in "Musical Opinion" on "That Blessed Word Interpretation" has much to say concerning its anuse. After taj-ing that altogether too much emphasis is laid by the critics on the difference between the renderings of great ' players, he continues;' "I am not implying for _ a moment, of course, that interpretative differences do not exist. lam merely suggesting that they are grossly and ■absurdly exaggerated as* a rule by a certain class of critic. Thus lam perfectly certain th«.t if you could persuade half a dozen leading pianists to play one after the other the first movement of, say, the "Appassionata Sonata" behind a screen, not a single hearer, however acute his perception, would succeed in saying definitely and accurately which was which, even if helped -to the'extent of being told beforehand the names, of •the six artists performing.

The following is from an editorial in the "Christian Science Monitor": "Many unusual services arc offered by public libraries, but one of the most interesting recently noticed is that performed by a branch library of New York. It contains a sound-proof room equipped with a fine phonograph where people may go by appointment to hear their favourite music. Fifteen hundred records are on file, most of them symphonies, operatic numbers and other standard works. If the cry raised by educationists that taste in music is being lamentably lowered by the influence of the radio is to be believed, a project such as this would appear unlikely to prosper. But the contrary is true. The music room is 'patronised every minute of the nine hours a day it is open. Several hundred people apply every month, and appointments are made weeks in advance. Besides music lovers who go to hear their favourite pieces, musicians, concert soloists and members of orchestras come to study different works as they are interpreted by various artists." There is: some talk of building a new Public Library in Auckland. If this is done, or even if the present building is enlarged, the suggestion contained in the above seems to me to be worth consideration. A public-spirited citizen who wished to encourage music, and intended to endow some form of musical activity in Auckland, could do very little better, it seems to me, than to present a public gramophone service to the municipality.

Music Week is drawing very near. The opening concert takes place next Saturday, August- 16. It may be well to explain briefly the nature and purpose of this festival, which has been organised with very definite ends in view. During the past decade a great change has come over the face of music throughout the world. The responsibility, for good or evil, may be laid at the feet of the gramophone and the radio. With its new electrical recording process, and the vast mechanical improvements it has undergone recently, the gramophone is no longer merely an interesting toy, useful as a background to such things as conversation and the eating of food. It enables us to hear a great deal of music which, otherwise "we should never hear, and many artists who without its assistance would remain mere names to us. Of the radio it is unnecessary to speak. Its popularity is assured, and it has become, as far as can be seen at present, a permanent institutiori. All this, on the face of it, is harmless enough. One might almost be tempted to applaud discreetly, were it not for certain considerations the importance of which is becoming more and more evident. For the sudden elevation of the radio set and the gramophone to the position of household gods has been attended by a widespread neglect of what has been called "flesh and blood" music. And through listening to too much mechanical music most people have become a little bored with music in general. It has become a luxury-instead of a necessary. In few cases nowadays does it create and satisfy a genuine hunger, even among those who may be regarded as enthusiasts; more often is it looked upon in the same light as a loaf of bread is looked upon by a man who has just dined well, but who has acquired the habit of eating. Music Week, then, is an attempt to restore the ; balance between what may be described > as "direct" and "indirect" music, When art comes into too close contact with machinery a chill spreads over it. It tends to hecome stale and meaningless. Whatever popularity mechanical music may achieve, it can never be more than a substitute— sometimes, be it allowed, an excellent I one—for -"direct" music. The health of; music depends, and must always depend,' on the music of the home and the concert hall; and on individual participation, as far as possible, in its performance. It is with the intention of redirecting public interest towards the concert ball that the musicians of Auckland, amateur and professional, have organised Music Week. All services rendered by musicians during •tie course of the week will be voluntary.