Skill Of Vienna Boys’ Choir Charms Audience

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27472, 5 October 1954, Page 14

Skill Of Vienna Boys’ Choir Charms Audience

Like a schoolboy ticking off the days before the end of term, one has awaited the return of the Vienna Boys’ Choir Now that they are with us again, the passing of the days is not so funny because they will be leaving us all too soon in the Majestic Theatre last evening they chai med their Urge audience with consummate skill. Although they have been having such a strenuous tour of New Zealand and Australia since they left us, there- is no sign of any loss of freshness in their voices or in that enjovment in their work which they convey so unmistakeably to their audience This shows clearly the skill of Herr Kuhbacher. the Director of the Choir, in his training of them so that all strain is taken away in the naturalness of the voice production It is also a tribute to those who have been lookins after their physical welfare. The greater part of the programme •was new to us here. However, it opened with that wonderful setting by Giovanni Croce of "O Sacrum Convivium." which has been one of the pleasant memories of their first concert. This was followed by “Super Flumina Babylonis" bv Palestrina, one of the greatest vorks in the glorious literature of classical polyphony. It was movinglv beautiful and, although it is invidious to single out any section of the choir in what was so surpassingly lovely, the mellow voices of the boys taking the lower parts and their expressive phrasing are something which one will treasure. Brukner's “Virga Jesse.” a motet for seven voices, also made a powerful impression. The spirit of the older masters is fully preserved in this fine Nineteenth Century work Brahms’s setting of the Thirteenth P alm did not measure up to the standard o." these other composition although it 1-ft nothing to be desired in the way in which it was performed. Peter Warmke sang Mozart’s Alleluia. His voice has not yet reached its fun maturity but when it does it is going to be very beautiful Indeed. He sang •with excellent understanding, and took the iop C with the ease of a nightingale The last section of the programme contained works bv-Schubert, Mendelssohn. Mozart, and Strauss, together with two Austrian folk songs. In all of them there was that poised sense of style which is one of the astonishing

things in such young performers, or, perhaps it would be more correct to say, which shows how well they can assimilate the musicianly direction which is given them in their training. The opera last night was Offenbach’s “Mr and Mrs Denis.” It was a riot of good fun. The main parts were taken by Herbert Groger. whose skill in acting impressed us all so much before, Peter Warmke, Hubert Walin er, and Ferdinand Rubel. Groger and Warmke made a charming pair as the young eloping couple. Wallner, whose movements on the stage show a rarely mature sense of acting in a boy, gave a flawless performance of Nanette and sang with excellent richness of tone. Rubel brought out all the humour in the part of Bellerose, the swashbuckling gendarme, and, even when staggeringly drunk, never overplayed it. The chorus sang delightfully, especially with that fluttering pianissimo which their first chorus demands. Both the stagecraft and the singing reflected the greatest credit on all. It was a charming work presented with great poise and elegance. The choir will give another performance in the Majestic Theatre this evening