MADAME MURIEL BRUNSKILL

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21578, 14 September 1935, Page 12

MADAME MURIEL BRUNSKILL

FAREWELL CONCERT TO-NIGHT

Commenting on Madame Muriel Brunskill's singing of Gustav Hoist's wonderful "Hymns From the Rig Veda" (which will be included in the famous contralto's farewell programme at the Radiant Hall to-night;, the musical critic of the Brisbane "Telegraph" wrote:— "Then came the three hymns from Hoist's 'Rig Veda,' in which an entirely new field was opened up for our gaze. They were magnificent songs, full of the elusive charm of modern harmonies, full of difficulties for Mr Carl Bartling, the accompanist, and full of opportunities for Madame Brunskill to reveal another side of her art. These are songs which are only heard to the best advantage when sung by such an artist possessing such a voice. 'Ushas' (Dawn), has a beauty toward its end which defies description, 'Varuna' (Sky), a dramatic quality which depends largely on the singer's ability to realise all that there is in the last final dramatic cadence, while in 'Maruts' (stormclouds) the magnificence of the voice and the expressive power of the voice, as well as Carl Bartling's musicianship, were tested to the full. It was one of the most thrilling songs on the programme."

Other unusual songs on to-night's programme will be: "Watermill" and "Silent Noon" (Vaughan Williams), "Silver," "February," "Five Eyes," "O, Nightingale Upon My Tree," "Love's Prisoner," and "Sailing Homeward" (Armstrong Gibbs). In addition there will be two operatic arias—"Stella del Marinas" (from "La Gioconda"), and "Non Piu di Fiori"—a group of Schubert lieder, and a number of old favourite songs.

The at Madame Brunskill's New Zealand concerts is the brilliant Melbourne pianist, Carl Bartling, who will be heard to-night in "Humoresque" (Rachmaninoff), "Pastorale and Capriccio" (Scarlatti-Tau-sig), "L'Ondine" (Chaminafte), and "Papillon" (Grieg). The bQI plans and day sales are at Bess's,