THE NATIONAL ORCHESTRA

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26886, 12 November 1952, Page 3

THE NATIONAL ORCHESTRA

VIEWS OF GUEST CONDUCTOR MORE STRINGS NEEDED (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 11. Mr Juan Jose Castro and Mrs Castro stepped into a Solent flying-boat bound for Sydney this morning. Next week the eminent Argentinian composer and conductor will be telling musicians in Europe about the National Orchestra. They will hear about it in Rome, Belgrade, Paris, London, and in Buenos Aires. Mr Castro will be pleased to tell them about the orchestra. “For the length of time it has been playing the National Orchestra has been performing very well indeed,” he said today. As to other things Mr Castro will tell other conductors and players, the most important perhaps is that this orchestra is capable of playing more difficult works than he had expected. “When I arranged my programme I had no exact idea of what the orchestra could play,” he said. “Now I know that I could have included a number of other works within its capacity. “The really urgent problem in the orchestra is to find more strings—lo or 12 of them if possible,” he added Six. violas and six ’cellos were not enough, nor were 10 or 11 first violins.

The orchestra, he said, should have at least one guest conductor with it each year even if he took only four concerts