AN OUTSTANDING CONTRALTO

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21577, 13 September 1935, Page 7

AN OUTSTANDING CONTRALTO

■ .—...in CONCERT BY MADAME BRUNSKILL BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE Not often have Christchurch musiclovers heard such a singer as Madame Muriel Brunskill, or so good a programme as she gave for her first concert at the Radiant Hall last evening. Endowed with a glorious contralto voice, equally capable of strength and delicacy and always smooth in tone, and at the same time showing a musical understanding far surpassing that of most singers, she carried her audience into fields of delight A singer's renown depends on the quality of her voice, but her real worth is indicated almost, as much by her choice of songs as by her way of singing them, for by that choice she will show whether she is musician or. merely insVrument. Madame Brunskill has that finer worth. Throughout the whoLr of its range her voice has a fine resonance—a roundness that endures in the loudest passages as in the softest and in haste as in repose. Her songs avoid the list of hackneyed airs without going into fields where the ordinary music-lover is left behind. Adding to the pleasure of the con- : cert was the playing of Carl Bartling ; as solo pianist. He is a pianist who impresses by the crispness of his playing and the soreness of his tone. . Madame Brunskill's; opening song, : the "Lasciatemi Morire" of Monteverde—a composer whose work is un- ] deservedly forgotten by most singers— ' prepared the way for. the rest of the : evening, for it revealed both the strength and grace of her voice and her choice of music. Gluck's "Che ] Faro," from "Orfeo," .vwas the. only : other song from opera, and in it the : dramatic range of her voice and the ' sureness of her rhythm were first ' shown. Handel's "Largo," sung with a tonal quality; that enhanced its flow- | ing movement, led to a group of six i songs by Brahms, by which the < audience was yeally aroiised: to en-'.' thusiasm. .First among these were three short gipsy songs, the. second of ' which was a revelation v of easy, strong .1 singing and command of emotional ' intensity. "'The next was a delightful f rattling song" of lieder. type, followed ' y tfie tender "O Wus I st ,, Ich' Ddcb." - J >

The lightness of touch shown here was continued in "Die Mainacht," with its gentle opening and growth to strength with the full round power of the voice carrying the middle passages. The rhythm of "Der Schmied" and Granville Bantock's "A Feast of Lanterns" as an encore ended a memorable group. This first half of the programme had shown that unusual qualities could be expected of Madame Brunskill: the second, in a group of three songs by Schubert, gave a new revelation of her abilities in dramatic singing. Beginning with "Wasserflut" in easy style, she made of "Gretchsn am Spinnrade" a commanding and tragic study of emotion, lifting her voice into the growing intensity" of the song. Even this was surpassed by her singing of "Erlkonig," her interpretation of which, conveyed to the full the sinister atmosphere of the song and the individuality of its characters, and yet enabled her voice to maintain its fine quality throughout The quiet sea-magic of Elgar's "Where Corals Lie," sung as an encore, wag a st#ng relief. This quieter mood was continued in the final group, with the sadness of three songs by Tschaikowsky. The easy grace of her singing of 'A Legend" led to the dolour of MNone But the Weary Heart," and the fine gradation of mood expressed in "To the Forest." The lively folk quality of "In Hebrid Seas" land the splendid . sweep of her voice in "Kishmul's Galley" (both arranged; by Marjory Ken.-nedy-Fraser) were added delighti Encores were "Oh dear. What Can the Matter Be," "Three Fishers," and "Ye Banks and Braes." Mr Bartling's playing of "Aufschwung" (Schumann) was incisive, ' and he maintained good tone even with full volume. He brought out pleasantly the, delicate inconsequence of Chopin's "Valse in D flat major" and the fluttering movement of the "Valse in E minor." : His light, sure touch was evident in the chattering playfulness of "The Little White Donkey" (Ibert), and in "Rush Hour in.Hong Kong" (Chasins) and "The '■ Golliwog's Cakewalk" (Debussy), i which he played as an encore. For her final concert to-morrow night Madame Brunskill'sprogramme 1 is equally interesting. Among her 1 chief numbers will be Gustav Holst?s : "Hymns from the Rig Veda," Vaughan 1 Williams's "Spent Noon" and "Water- '1 mill," Schubert's "Hymn to the "Aj- : mighty," "Stella del Marinar" (from : "La Gioconda"), "Non Piu de FiPjNJ'' i (from Mozart's "La Cleraenxa, di Tito"), six Armstrong Gibbs's song?, ] and'three Schubert'lieder." ,