The Competitions.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18681, 3 May 1926, Page 6

The Competitions.

• This year's festival, the sixteenth, of 1 the Christchurch Competitions Society " was begun on Friday, and there are • at least two pleasant things to note 3 about it. The first is that the presi--3 dent in his opening speech said with 5 a modesty not common on such oeca- ■ sions simply that the Society "felt ; " that they had done a certain amount > "of good." This is indefinite, but a 1 claim so gently put that even sworn 3 enemies of competitive music and k poetry, if there are any, must meet 3 grace with grace, and register only a silent protest. The second is that a ' glance at the Official Programme dis- ' covers a commendable improvement in '' the standard of selection, where the > Society is responsible: perhaps, too, where the performers are; but it is ! not so easy to judge in the midst of 1 such diversity. However, while many competitors still cling to what is hackneyed or unworthy, the Society 1 has done very much better than usual. There are few deplorable " recitations " of the type which is so often fobbed off on to the unsuspecting as poetry; and from the choice of verse like " The Downs" of Bridges and liis " Windmill," Blunden's " The Barn," de la Mare's " Listeners" and " Berries," Davidson's "In Romney "Marsh," and T. Sturge Moore's "Wind's Work," it is possible to deduce, with satisfaction, that tfie Society has learned to distinguish real from sham poetry. The musical selec- ' tions, too, are better on the whole than those of last year; but the standard of choice in music has never been as low as in literature. The Society is therefore to be congratulated on showing, this year at any rate, eome grounds for feeling that, it does good work; for while the competitive interpretation of clap-trap can never benefit anybody, it may be true that the spirit of good poetry and music is .powerful to prevail against the, as some think, alien spirit of competition. ilowever that may be, the Society is in this matter of selection certainly moving along right lines of development; but it might also take in hand such problems as those involved in assuring a greater stability in the standards of judging; for it must be admitted that as one star differs from another in glory so does one judge from another in whim and prejudice. This, though it sometimes prevents a monotonous succession of foregone conclusions, is scarcely helpful to the competitors. And lastly, though it may seem a little unkind to raund off congratulation with reproof, the Society really should be bold enough to delete from its programme iteims for mere children. Amusing as it may be to see their tiny figures and to hear their thin trebles in a greait hall—it is always amusing to witness such disparity in scale —and gratifying as their performances may be to parents and instructors, the amusement and gratification are too dearly paid for by the children, their natural sweetness too soon waste.