TWO SONG CYCLES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30274, 29 October 1963, Page 8

TWO SONG CYCLES

Janet Kenny’s Recital Two song-cycles wilt form the centrepieces of the recital to be given in Begg’s concert hall on Saturday evening by the Christchurch soprano, Janet Kenny, accompanied on piano and harpsichord by Maurice Till. One is Schoenberg’s 15 Songs from ‘‘Dash Buch der Haengenden Gaerten,” and the other is FaiHa’s Seven Spanish Popular Songs. The Schoenberg cycle, which Mrs Kenny will sing later in November foe the International Society for Contemporary Music in Wellington, is an important work in the composer’s development. Although it was written in 1908. long before he developed his 12-note system, and still bears traces of Wagnerian influence, Schoenberg himself regarded it as the first work in which be had broken through on to his own road. The programme also includes a group of SOOOB by composers contemporary with Schoenberg and Falla—the Austrians, Wolf and Mahler; the American, Charles Ives, and Joseph Canteioutoe, sosne of whose Songs of Auvergne will be presented. The remainder of the programme is devoted to arias from Italian operas by Handel and Moaart's “Cosi Fan Tutte” and Ekiglish songs by John Dowiand sod Johann Christian Bach. Mrs Kenny has appeared as soloist with the John Ritchie String Orchestra and the Royal Christohurtdi Musical Society and she is currently engaged in a series of appearances in North Island cities with the Wellington Youth Orchestra.