THE WELLINGTON CARILLON.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20524, 18 April 1932, Page 13

THE WELLINGTON CARILLON.

FIRST CONCERT NEXT WEEK. NOTED PLAYER ARRIVES FROM ENGLAND. [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, April 10. Recognised as the leading carillonist in England, Mr Clifford Ball, who is to inaugurate the Wellington War Memorial Carillon, arrived at Wellington to-day by the Rangitata from London. Mr Ball, who is accompanied by liis wife, is the official carillonist at Bournville, England, the famous pioneer garden village which is associated with the name of Cadbury Bros., Ltd. He is also organist at the factory of Cad bury Bros., Ltd., through whose generosity he has come to New Zealand.

Mr Ball was in the Navy during the war, serving in mine-sweepers in the North Sea and English Channel, and did not take up music professionally until after demobilisation. lie studied at the Birmingham University under Sir Granville Bantock, and took the degree of Bachelor of Music with honours in

1922. In 3f>24 lie was appointed carillonist at Bournville, and went to Malines, Belgium, to study bell-playing, lie revisited Malines in 1925, and the following year gained his diploma ut the National School of Ca'rillon Art, with honours, being the first Englishman to do so;

Mr Ball is no stranger to the Wellington carillon, for lie has played it at Newcastle-on-Tync and London. At tlie former place it was hung in the North-East Coast exhibition (being lent by the Wellington Carillon Society) which was opened by the I'rinco of Wales. Mr Ball played ut the opening ceremony, and subsequently gave over two hundred recitals. On Sunday evenings, when the exhibition was closed, people to the number of 100,000 frequently gathered on the town moor to listen to Mr Ball's playing. On several occasions his recitals Mere broadcast, and were heard even in New Zealand. The carillon was later erected in llvde Park, London, and Mr Ball gave another two hundred recitals. Here his playing again aroused tremendous interest., and his Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, was a frequent visitor to the carillon tower. Wide Experience. Mr Ball had the honour of inaugurating Scotland's first carillon at Dumbarton, Scotland, in 3028, and the Portadown (Ireland) carillon in 1930. In 1931 he revisited Malines to give a recital in the Cathedral at the celebration of the jubilee of the appointment of M. .Tef Denyn (the world's most renowned cariJlonist) as carillonist to the town of Malines. It was under M. Denyn that Mr Ball studied, and carillonists from France, Holland, Portugal, America, and elsewhere were also present at the banquet given in the master's honour. Mr Ball lias also played on carillons at Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and Louvain (Belgium), Tilburg and Bois-le-Duc (Holland), Armagh Cathedral (Ireland), and Loughborough (England). On the occasion of Mr Ball's present trip lie has also been invited to give recitals in Australia and Canada on his return to England. In addition to being an accomplished carillonist Mr Ball has also written a good deal of original music for the bells, and transcribed much classical and other music for the instrument. It will not be surprising if, during his visit, Mr Ball plays some of tiie Maori airs which aro so pleasing and familiar to tho New Zealand public.