TREMENDOUS APPLAUSE FOR RITA STREICH

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29326, 4 October 1960, Page 17

TREMENDOUS APPLAUSE FOR RITA STREICH

Rita Streich moved her .large audience in the Civic Theatre to tremendous furores of applause. She brought to the Civic Theatre (whose stage setting has reached an all-time low in hideousness) the exciting atmosphere of the great opera houses and concert halls of Europe, and did so by singing with apparent perfection of voice and consummate artistry in interpretation. She gave her hearers two hours of unalloyed joy and unfading memories which will have to last them a long time before they hear her like again. Her flawless and never-failing resonance, used in many and appropriate tonal colours, thrilling cascades of the loveliest sounds, perfect and broad legato singing with matchless phrasing, and all of it coming with that natural ease that shows the most unrelenting training and artistic intelligence made Rita Streich’s concert one of the very greatest we have had here.

Such work defies analysis, in anything short of a volume, because it was not only Rita Streich we were hearing but we were also experiencing the fruits of the long tradition of Europe’s finest singing. AU that remains is for us to be grateful to her for giving us that experience and to treasure as much of it as we can for as long as we can. The first part of the programme—works by Mozart, Schubert, and Strauss—showed her mastery of every subtle requirement of lieder singing. The charm of the Moussorgsky group, the heart-moving loveliness of her singing of the aria from “Lakme,” and the perfectlyexecuted vocal acrobatics (only a little of these) gave great pleasure in the second part of the programme. The variety of interest in the programme was most pleasing and showed that skilful thought was behind its choice. While mentioning programmes we must say that the management deserves high praise for producing a programme which was worth having, in that

it was well set* out and contained most of the words of the songs. It is to be hoped that other entrepreneurs may also find it in their hearts to give us something as good. The standard of some printed programmes is shocking. Mr Maurice Till played the accompaniments in model fashion, and it certainly appeared that Miss Stretch appreciated the artistic partnership which he provided for her. He entered fully into the atmosphere of every work and brought not only excellent technical ability but also artistic style and finish to his playing. The year’s biggest regret is that Miss Streieh gave only one concert here. —C.F.B. '