French Pianist Had Diplomats Worried

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30677, 17 February 1965, Page 7

French Pianist Had Diplomats Worried

Chinese audiences have been described as “absolutely marvellous” by the French pianist Samson Francois on his return to Paris after his recital tour with a French trade fair.

The much-travelled pianist said audiences came to concerts with their spirits wide open to what the artist can bring to them. They were very like American audiences but the opposite of the French public which gave the impression of attending concerts merely to see if the artist would be able to make the grade. Mr Francois believes he is Taking Modern Scores To U.S. The 8.8. C. Symphony Orchestra will undertake its first tour of the United States in April this year. The orchestra will give 16 concerts in 10 cities in the eastern states. The conductor, Antal Dorati, will have a French guest conductor, Pierre Boulez, and three British soloists, Heather Harper (soprano), Jacqueline du Pre (’cello), and John Ogdon (piano) with him. The repertoire will consist almost exclusively of twen-tieth-century music. Among the composers represented will be Bartok, Boulez, Britten, Aaron Copland, Gerhard, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Tippett and Webern. Keeping Watch On Artist An oil painting by an Italian master has just come to light in London which seems, on the evidence now available, to be the earliest known illustration of a pocket watch, the “Financial Times” reported. The painting shows a bearded man holding in his right hand a typical German drum-shaped watch of the mid-sixteenth century. The artist cannot be named, but from the style of dress of the sitter the painting can be dated with confidence as close to 1560, a date which agrees with the appearance of the watch.

Swedish Players Plan Big Tour

Ingmar Bergman, the producer and film director, is planning to take Stockholm’s Royal Dramatic Theatre company on tour to London, New York and Paris in the spring of 1966. He said the company would present five or six plays during the tour, which would consist of a fortnight in London, three weeks in New York and three weeks in Paris.

Mr Bergman, initiator of the current wave of uninhibited Swedish films, is in the middle of his second season as director-general of Stockholm’s Royal Dramatic Theatre, where attendances have risen by 250,000 so far this season.

the first Western artist to perform in China since 1949. He says he will return next year.

When Mr Francois announced he would play allFrench programmes at his three concerts in Peking, with the first recital devoted entirely to the works of Debussy, a storm was triggered in the official press which denounced Debussy as an enemy of the people and a rightist reactionary in politics. But Marshal Chen Yi, Foreign Minister and Deputy Premier, led the applause of the 6000 persons at the sellout concert and it was a great success. Mr Francios gave many encores—all Debussy—and anxious French diplomats relaxed. At all recitals Mr Francois played newish American Steinway pianos. The Chinese gave him a choice of instruments with the stipulation that he would agree to the printing of “Steinway Piano, German instrument” in the programme.

Mr Francois said China appeared to be going through a great romantic age in all its art.

He noted that the conservatory orchestra always played from memory and conductors without scores. Performances of Western music played by other Chinese orchestras that he heard were “professional.” The brilliance of technique of many young pianists impressed Mr Francois. They seemed to be the only instrumentalists prepared for solo careers and others appeared to be assigned to orchestras. He described the Peking Conservatory as a wonderful training centre set in a great park and lovely gardens. The 2000 students lived in bungalows, each equipped with pianos, record players and tape recorders. The library of scores covered the Western repertory and there were 200,000 discs in the record collection. Scout Leaves Waggons

After five years on television’s California trail as the scout Flint McCullough, the eyes and ears of “Wagon Train,” Robert Horton, made his Broadway debut in the successful musical, “110 Degrees in the Shade.” When he joined “Wagon Train” he was tender in the saddle —“I hadn’t ridden a horse in 10 years”—but he became an expert horseman. “I did my own riding and fighting,” he said. “Honesty is important in these things. ‘Wagon Train’ was hard work, five days a week, 10 hours a day. When you’ve sat on a horse several hours, you really know it. But you can develop a gigantic audience through television.” Horton was previously a British television star.

THE QUEENSLAND Industrial Commissioner, Mr H- J. Harvey, left Brisbane yesterday for Mount Isa to make another attempt to settle the 25-w,eek-old mine dispute.