MANY FINE MOMENTS IN STUDENT CONCERT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31134, 10 August 1966, Page 16

MANY FINE MOMENTS IN STUDENT CONCERT

The many fine moments in the University of Canterbury student’s concert in the Civic Theatre last evening were outnumbered, however, by the lost opportunities. Classical music, jazz, folk singing and poetry were included in a single programme —a novel idea, and a good one, providing the chance to remove them from the separate mental compartments where they are usually olaced, and to see them in relation to one another. Unfortunately, the effect of the concert tended to be the reverse. The classical items 'were excellent: Bach’s Fantasia in G Minor (oddly 1 olaced at the start of the programme) was nlayed with conviction by the organist. Denis Smalley: in three English songs Sylvia Bradley produced a soprano voice of unusual purity: Mozart's clarinet irio was especially memorable, though marred by a somewhat tentative viola: and Suzanne Purnell gave an intelligent if light-weight performance of the Beethoven Opus 78 sonata for piano.

But there was no link with the rest of the music. This could have been established bv choosing works by twenti-eth-century comnosers influenced by jazz. The first jazz .bracket, admittedly, included a stylish, deadpan arrangement of a Bach bourree, yet this was hardly more than a -esture in the right direction. The quartet who played it impressed in all three num-

bers with their detached competence. More highly-powered were “Night in Tunisia” and “Nigerian Walk" by a trio featuring an extremely professional musician. Jim Langabeer, on tenor and baritone saxophone. The best jazz came at the end of the concert three numbers from a sextet, which played with real drive and precision. Joanna McMenamin, Anne Whittle. Hugh Canard and Steve Dakin are a group familiar to folk-music audiences. and last evening they I gave possibly their most suci cessful performances yet. Anne Whittle's “Crawdad (Song” was delightful: Hugh Canard's arrangement of a : Bob Dylan love song was movingly effective, and a! j group number. A. A. Milne’s j “Disobedience," was quite ; enchanting. The poetry was disappointi ing a predominance of j Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti and Cummings, read with too much desire to shock and insufficient comprehension of its real meaning. Ray Brook came nearest to realising a satisfying reading in Cumj mings’s “Little Balloon Man." ; Why were jazz and poetry not combined? And why, since the programme lacked any internal cohesion, did the compere not try to tie the pieces together verbally? The biggest opportunity, though, was missed by all the people who stayed away: in spite of the defects, this was an enjoyable concert, and deserved a much larger audience.