CIVIC MUSIC COUNCIL RECEIVES NEW PIANO

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28415, 23 October 1957, Page 11

CIVIC MUSIC COUNCIL RECEIVES NEW PIANO

The first audience before which the new concert grand piano in the Civic Theatre was played yesterday is likely to have been its smallest. Freshly unpacked after its arrival from the Hamburg factory of Steinway and Sons, the glossy, Bft 6in instrument was played by Mr Ernest Jenner to nine members of the Civic Music Council. The verdict of all there, from th*' chairman of the council (Mr J L. Hay) to the caretaker of the theatre (Mr L. Flowers), who has listened to many piano recitals from the wings, was that it is a highly satisfactory instrument that will please both performers and their audiences. Cost £2300 It has long been the ambition of the Civic Music Council to buy a Steinway, the most celebrated of concert grands. This piano cost the council £2300. It will be heard publicly for the first time tomorrow evening when it will be played by Maurice Till in a concert with the Australian soprano. Glenda Raymond. The town halls in Wellington and Auckland have Steinways for concerts. The council has already

inquired into the temperaturecontrolled storage room that Wellington has for its piano. It is also seeking information from the makers on storage. The piano, the council has decided, will not be removed from the Civic Theatre. It was handed over 1o the council yesterda.v by r the importer, Mr Sedley’ Wells. "I hope that the Civic Music Council and the public of Christchurch will be as thrilled with this piano as I am.’’ said Mr Wells. “I have much pleasure indeed in taking delivery of this piano,” said Mr Hay. "The artists coming to this country are used to playing on high-quality instruments,” i he said, recalling the earlier steps by the council to provide good pianos for the city. He also thanked Mr C. Foster Browne, the chairman of the council’s music committee, “who had led the effort to obtain the piano.” "I am as happy as you are to have a piano equal to that in any country in the world,” said Mr Browne. “It will be a great incentive to our best students to have such an instrument here.” Mr Jenner played variations by Benjamin Dale for his short con-

cert. Afterwards he declared the piano "delightful to play.” “It gives many shades of tone, quality and variety of tone amount,” said Mr Jenner. "There is purity of tone in the whole piano. You intend something, and it gives it to you.” Mr Flowers, who is “not musical.” ventured the opinion that it sounded good. “This will stop al] the argument,” he said.