THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 282, 28 November 1931, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

GOSSIP OF THE STUDIOS. i FROM FAR AND NEAR. (By ORPHEUS.) COMING CONCERTS. December I—Auckland1 —Auckland Trio, Fourth. Concert. December 3—Aeolian Orchestra. December S —Maida Hooker Recital. December 9—Simmers-Aspey Recital. December 10 —Bohemian Orchestra, Fourth Concert. December 17—Auckland Choral Society. "The Messiah." Mr. Vincent Aspey and Mr. Robert Simmers, two young Auckland musicians who have recently returned from Australia, will join forces in a recital to be given on December 9. The Bohemian Orchestra's fourth and final concert of the season will take place on December 10. Among the works set down for performance are the Greig Piano Concerto in A minor, Tschaikowsky's "Casse-Noisette Suite," and Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave" overture. Mr. Barry Coney will be the vocalist at the Auckland's Trio's concert next Tuesday night. The personnel of the trio for this, the fourth and final concert of the season, will be Jean Allen (violin), Lalla Hemus ('cello), Cyril Towsey (piano). They will play John Ireland's "Phantasie Trio in A Minor," Trio in C Minor, Opus 5, (Max Bruch), and, with Lois Walls (violin) and Harold Baxter (viola), Dohnanyi's Piano Quintet in C Minor, Opus 1, this latter, which was given at the previous concert, being repeated by special request.

Miss Eva Stern, who is playing the Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor with the Bohemian Orchestra on Thursday evening, December 10, was born in Odessa, Russia, but came to U.S.A. at a very early age. She studied with the best teachers in New York city, and made her official New York debut on April 30, 1929, being extremely well received by the New York critics. Since then she has done much concert work in the United States, where she is also well known as a radio artist. Miss Stern was married four months ago in Honolulu to Mr. J. Paykel, of Auckland, and has been residing here during the past three months.

A very attractive programme will be presented at the Aeolian Orchestra's fourth and final concert of the season next Thursday evening. The orchestra will play the overture to Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte," Haydn's "London Symphony," selections from the "Geisha," and Sullivan's operas, "Valse" scene from Lugini's "Ballet Russe," transcription of the carol "The First Nowell," Minuet from Mozart's Serenade in E Flat, Trevor Sparling's transcription of the sea chantey "Shenandoah," and the march "Connecticut." The vocalists will be Miss Marjorie Fair, who will sing I 'Mother, You Know the Story," from "Cavalleria Rusticana," "I Know How to Tie Ribbon Bows," and "Birthdays"; Mr. Robert Gilbert Simmers, whose contributions will be the "Sea Gipsy," "Trade Winds" and Koenemann's dramatic song, "When the Kin;' Went Forth to War." °

The fine ensemble of the Auckland String Quartet at the Chamber Music Society's recent concert was a strikingdemonstration of the benefit accruing from ardent rehearsal, combined with expert coaching. Whilst on this subject it might be mentioned that it seems a great pity that a super-excellent performance, such as .that given at this concert, cannot be repeated for the benefit of those who were unfortunate enough to miss hearing it. The trouble is that there are not many people here who can appreciate really artistic playing when they hear it, and also it is very difficult to get a paying audience for worth-while music. There is, however, one scheme might be tried. I understand that our intelligentsia are extremely fond of card-playing, and that, whilst they know or care nothing about Frank Bridge, the reverse applies to auction bridge. This being the state of affairs, it might be worth while holding a large bridge evening, at which chamber music would be played.

Professional musicians will no doubt watch with interest the move made by the phonograph companies to restrict the use of records for broadcasting purposes. If they succeed, the broadcasters will then be compelled to employ more artists on the programmes. The following extract from "Music in Australia" explains the position more fully:—

"Wliile no definite plans have yet been made public, it seems certain that the phonograph people are determined to correct what they regard as exploitation of their goods. "In future, the discs, produced by the three big companies concerned will carry labels specifying that the recordings must not be used for radio broadcasting or other public performance. ° Meanwhile reports of the embargo have set the musical world agog. The legal rights of the phonograph companies have yet to be tested, but there is general agreement that limitation of the broadcasting of records would be widely beneficial first of all to the thousands of dealers throughout Australia and New Zealand, who claim that their business has been seriously affected by the constant use of the discs on the air; and, secondly, to the great numbers of 'flesh - and-blood' musicians whose field of employment has become more and more restricted.". Robin H. Legge, discoursing upon Feats of -.Memory," says: "Memories occasionally give way under stress, of course. For many years Paclnnann never played a concerto or any other work with orchestra unless he had the music on the pianoforte desk, and similarly, that great player Eaoul Pugno rarely essayed any work of major importance save from the music pages. The conductor's memory is surprising often, but for the ordinary person it is not so easy a matter to detect an error here as in the case of a pianist's 'wrong notes.' A good story is that of the leader of an orchestra who relates how lie 'was kindly invited by a famous conductor to make an entry fourteen bars too soon.' He declined, the invitation, made an entry at the right point, and all went well. What can be said of the memory of Sir Thomas Beecham save that to the ordinary citizen it is uncanny ? His feats of memory are prodigious. In 1914 at Drury Lane when the Russian conductor was suddenly taken ill, Sir Thomas stepped in the breach and directed from memory the second performance in England of 'Khovanshchina.' Nor can Toscanini be forgotten, who conducted the first performance of a new opera after memorising it during a train journey of fjur, hours." I

The writer has had the opportunity recently of perusing some of Mr. Vincent Aspey's Sydney Press notices, and was much struck by the unanimity of the critics in praising the young violinist's performances there. Some of the critiques of the concerts in which Mr. Aspey was a participator were decidedly frank about the various performers,, but there was always an appreciation for the Auckland "boy's contribution to the programme.

I An interesting suggestion as to how the famous "Kreutzer" sonata came to be so named is made in an article on George Bridgetower, by H. P. MorganBrowne, in "The Strad." "Some Frenchman, we are told, wrote to Beethoven and pointed out that a certain passage was almost identical with a passage in a prior composition by Kreutzer. Beethoven, the last man in the world to plagiarise, sought elegant recognition of Kreutzer's priority by dedicating to him the whole sonata."

. Whilst the life of a professional musician out here in New Zealand may not be altogether a bed of roses, he should be thankful that he is not likely to be treated in the way mentioned in the following extract, culled from an American journal: "It must be tough to keep on doing something you can't do, or don't want to do, even if you're paid for it. There is a dance band leader in a Chicago road-house who knows all about that. A few days ago_ a gang held up - the saloon de danse in which he was performing, and a gangster, who was displeased with the way he held up his hands on demand, lammed him in the beak, as the saying goes, and broke his nose. This particular gang proved to be more individualistic than the average, however, for, instead of cutting out as soon as the spoils had been gathered, they stayed and ate and drank at the expense of the house, and the band had to supply the music. The spectacle of the leader with a broken nose guiding his men in the strains of 'Happy Days Are Here Again' shows a sardonic sense of humour that might be put to a better use."

"Diogenes the Younger," in "Musical Opinion," has soma amusing suggestions to make on the subject of taxation on music. He says that there ought to be a "Farewell Recital," tax payable by all time-expired artists who announce more than one "Absolutely Last Appearance in Public." The more last appearances they announce, the higher the tax they would have to pay. "My next suggestion would take some working out, but it is well worth trying—namely, a "Hackneyed Programme Duty.'' For instance, a pianist playing more . than a certain amount of Beethoven and Chopin in one programme would be liable to duty; and for this purpose we should need an expert assessment committee, on which I should be happy to serve if suitably remunerated. I should also expect to reap a rich harvest from the ''Wobble Tax,'- to be levied on a certain type of vocalist, which I need not specify, and I have invented an instrument called the vibrometer to supply the necessary data. This incidentally should enable the 8.8.C. to get rid of some of their most tiresome artists without fuss or unpleasantness."