THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 230, 28 September 1935, Page 11 (Supplement)

THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

NOTES OF THE DAY. FROM FAR AND NEAR. "(By ORPHEUS.) Several new works were presented at the Three Choirs Festival which opened at Worcester on September 1. Among these were "Michael Angelo's Confession of Faith," Uy W. H. Harris, "The Morning Watch" of Arnold Bax aiul George Dyson's "Nebuchadnezzar." Handel's "Dettingen To Deuni" was included as a thanksgiving for the King's 25 years' reign. This was the 215 th meeting of the Three Choirs.

Music lovers who missed the great treat of hearing Miss Muriel Bruuskill sing a few weeks ago will be interested to know that thero is a possibility that the famous contralto may give a return concert on October 17, the eve of her departure for Sydney. If this takes place it is to be hoped that students of singing in Auckland will avail themselves of the chance to hear a vocalist whose autistic work has been described to the writer, by many enthusiastic teachers of singing, as one of the finest object lessons in voice production and platform deportment ever given by a visiting artist.

The famous Viennese Boys' Choir opens its Australian tour this month. This choir was founded in 1408 by Emperor Maximilian I. to sing at Divine service. During the first century of the choir's existence the boys were placed only under a choirmaster, but later they received .full education under monastic discipline. In 1918, with the. termination of the Austrian Empire, the Viennese Boys' Choir, which had given continuous service for over 400 years, was disbanded. From 1918 to 1923 there was no boys choir in the Court chapel, but early in 1923 it was restored.

Frederic Lamond, the doyen of English pianists, made his London debut at St. James' Hall so long ago a.s 1880. A movement is now afoot to have the fiftieth anniversary of., this first appearance, when it falls due next year, celebrated by a repetition of the identical programme played on that occasion. Lamond gave four recitals in the March of 1880, and at the fourth his teacher, the great Franz Liszt, sat and listened to his young pupil. Although Frederic Lamond is now in his sixty-eighth year his capacity for artistic performance has not diminished. Last year lie gave a series of Beethoven recitals, at which he played the entire set of 32 sonatas.

There are several interesting articles in the Septeriiber issue of '"Music in New Zealand." A well-timed editorial discusses the quality of the solo vocal work in New Zealand. Ramsay Howie, in an article, "Music in the School: Some Reflections and Some Doubts," suggests how school teachers might lead their pupils along the path towards the appreciation of "quality" in music. "Music in London," by L. D. Austin, is mostly about Frederic Lamond, the eminent English pianist. Nina Langley, in "Good and Bad in Music," considers that "we classify music into 'good' and 'bad' on a totally-wrong principle, and that from this faulty classification is engendered the age-long strife between the supporters of jazz and the supporters of; the classics," also that there is such a thing as good "lowbrow" music and bad "highbrow" classics. Reviews of new music, vocal and instrumental, will no doubt interest many, even the committees of our musical societies. Considerable space is taken up with accounts of musical activities in various parts of the Dominion, particularly Wellington.

Those who heard a recent .broadcast of the Auckland Watersidcrs Band from the IYA studio must have been very favourably impressed by the excellent intonation, and nice regard for artistic expression displayed by the combination. This band is handicapped in several respcots. To start with, its name is neither suitable nor euphonious; there are no waterside workers playing in the band, and even if there were it is suggestive of noises associated with "wharves and shipping —rattling winches, steamer whistles, Harbour Board sirens, etc. Such a name as "Akarana Artisans Band" might sound better and be more applicable to the vocations of its members. Then, of course, there is always present the problem of finance. On the credit side, however, the band possesses & great asset in the person of its con - ductor, Mr. Wynn Smith, a very capable and self-sacrificing musician, who has not spared himself, or his bandsmen, in -welding into a comparatively harmonious whole a number of young and inexperienced players. I am told that Mr. Smith will spend hours on a few bars to get perfect intonation, and that it is very hard to satisfy him. From this it may be seen that the band is working along the right lines, and it is to be hoped that when this hard-work-ing combination goes to the next contest it will do more than deserve success—ifc will command it.

There are many who think that too often we hear songs of no great artistic merit sung at the concerts given by musical societies in Auckland. To hear the best in vocal music the music-lover has to attend the recitals given by some of our young singers, several of whom have already this season presented programmes in wliich mosit praiseworthy taste has been displayed in the choice of the numbers performed. The following extract from the musical column ot the Birmingham "Weekly Post" is interesting, in that it shows that the 8.8.b. has been responsible for an improvement, so far as aesthetic standards are concerned, in the choice of songs at the promenade concerts given in the Queen s Hall; and this suggests that our own BroadcastSig Board may be able to raise our local standards by insisting that some critical judgment must be exercised in the selection of songs and singers foi concerts for which a broadcast subsidy is sriven- "Those of us who remember the great'days of the 'Proms.' will also recollect Sir Henry's arrangements of the programmes. Solid Wagner, Beethoven, Schubert and so 011 111 the first half and, in the second, frankly popular ballads and lio-ht music. We were accustomed to hear the songs of Maud Valerie White, son-s about Pale Hands, Blind Ploughmen and the like, but didn't the audience love it! All this is now a thing of the past. The iron hand of the 8.8.C. has descended on the programme builders. I think it is a change for the better. Some of the music 111 the second half was frequently c sheer rubbish, though it attracted a big public. Even a banality such as 'The Rosary would pull in crowds if sung by a Kirkby Lunn or a.n Ada Crossley—l am not suggesting that those talented ladies fell to such depths—but, after all, we were a jolly crowd in those far-off days of free-and-easy concerts, of line orchestral music and of' ballads of the 'Come Into the Garden, Maud' type."