John Hopkins Found Czech Work Satisfying

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29130, 16 February 1960, Page 12

John Hopkins Found Czech Work Satisfying

[From the London Correspondent of "The Press’’]

LONDON, February 3. On the eve of his departure for three weeks in Russia conducting symphony concerts, Mr John Hopkins, conductor on the New Zealand National Orchestra, related some of his thoughts on orchestras and opera in Czechoslovakia where he was working last month. Mr Hopkins conducted the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra—“lt is second to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra which toured New Zealand.” “The conditions under which these orchestras work are very fine,” he said. "We had five days’ rehearsal for one programme. It was played twice. “In Czechoslovakia concerts were occasions and the players built up a tension towards the day the performance—like actors for a first night. My two concerts in Bratislava have been artistically the most satisfying of this tour in Europe. “British orchestras work wonderfully under their conditions but these are not ideal. In England, for a two-hour programme you get a three-hour rehearsal with an orchestra, which means that many things are rushed through. The orchestras here are very efficient but are overworked in the number of concerts they have to do.” Opera Standards “I went to ten or a dozen opera performances at the National Theatre and the Smetana Theatre in Prague and the Opera House at Bratislava,” Mr Hopkins said. “The standard, taken over all, was good; but frequently performances were marred by the cast having say five good singers and three not so good singers. They are using many singers whose singing days are numbered or are already past. “On the credit side, the performance at all these theatres was much more an ensemble opera than a collection of star soloists bunched together to sing on the opera stage. I saw ‘Mirandolina’ by Martinu, the Czech composer who died last year, and Mussorgky’s ‘Sorochintsky Fair.’ The chances of seeing this in any other part of the world are very remote. “I heard Italian opera, such as ‘Tosca,’ sung in Czech; all operas. German and Italian, are translated into Czech. Although I did not understand a word, as a language it seemed a harsh one for singing Italian music; but I would not hestitate now to have opera performed in English,” he said. “A good seat in the Opera House in Bratislava costs the

equivalent of 75,” he said. “That would be a good seat in the stalls, and the Government subsidy on that seat is 425. The tickets are sold in factories and an opera audience is very much an audience of the people. “The singers have very excellent conditions for working in, and they retire on a pension not far short of their salaries when working. Those salaries are not as high as in the West but other things compensate for that Still, these plans have disadvantages: the variable quality of the cast is the most serious artistically," said Mr Hopkins. The work "Dances of Brittany” by the New Zealand composer, Larry Pruden, which he introduced at his concert with the Brussels Radio Orchestra f had been well received, said Mr Hopkins, producing a cutting from “La Libre Belgique," a tough paper for its musical reviews. It described the work as “original and attractive with echoes that ate unexpected, bizarre rather and indicative of a distinctive personality and evident musical sense.” Auditions Between concerts in Britain Mr Hopkins has interviewed some 20 young New Zealand musicians, some of them studying on Government bursaries, others working on their own. He met two New Zealand students in both Paris and Vienna and will meet one who is studying the flute in Copenhagen. He has also auditioned new players for the National Orchestra. In Glasgow, he conducted the 8.8. C. Scottish Orchestra with the New Zealand violinist, Alan Loveday, in Elgar’s Violin Concerto. His final concert in London was with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. ' After calling at The Hague, Copenhagen, and Helsinki Mr Hopkins will fly to Moscow for his first Russian concert, then to Riga and Kalinin. He will leave Moscow on February 26 and reach Auckland, by way of New Delhi, on February 29.