MUSIC The Delights Of Reading Cardus

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31339, 8 April 1967, Page 4

MUSIC The Delights Of Reading Cardus

The Delights ef Music. By Neville Cardus. Gollancs. 157 pp. For fifty years Neville Cardus has been not only a notable cricket commentator but one of Britain’s most distinguished music critics. This book contains a selection of his critiques written for the "Manchester Guardian” and deals with the musical scene in London and Manchester during the 19305, a period of intense musical activity In both cities. Sir Neville Cardus has divided the bock into three parts under the headings of Conductors, The Players, and The Singers. Avant-garde composers such as Schonberg and Hindmith are not dealt with as the Halle concerts were conservative In those days, though through Sir Neville Cardus's encouragement they did Included Mahler. One might feel, therefore, that re-reading an appreciation of a conceit conducted by, say, Bruno Walter or Weingartner performed a quarter of a century ago could evoke no great enthusiasm for today’s reader. But how wrong that view would M. Sir Neville Cardus, with his vast store of musical knowledge, has written what are Virtually essays on the performances h« attended. In those days a 600-word article was regarded as dismissing too lightly a performance by the famous Halle orchestra. Today a concert notice of such length would almost certainly be regarded as rather long. Cardus’s criticisms, in which he was expected to “spread” himself, were usually finished by 11.45 on the night rf the concert What a feat that was, for the "Manchester Guardian” had a tradition of “fine" writing and was opposed to the use in its criticisms of technical language unintelligible to musiclovers of average sensibility and discernment To use such specialist language, as Sir Neville Cardus remarks, would have been In bad and snobbish taste. As a critic he succeeded in disseminating the pleasures enjoyed in the concert hall and opera house in such a way that those not present could share his delights and excitements. His knowledge was not vainly paraded. To read of a concert given by Toscanini, for example, is not only a delight but an education. Sir Neville Cardus's elegant writing makes It so; when be enthuses over the performance of a particular symphony the reader is infected by his enthusiasm. His criticisms, stringent but fair, enable the reader to develop his own critical faculties. Sir Neville Cardus's description of, say, a Schnabel recital becomes ' a comment in depth. The interpretation is criticised, and so too are the works performed, In such a way that the reader comes to understand them better. It is almost like a lesson In musical appreciation given in a captivating, non-pedagoglc manner. Writing of a Kirsten Flag-

stad recital in Queen’s Hall, Sir Neville Cardus describes the first part as “splendidly null,” and one can see why. Then, in singing Grieg, her voice becomes at once intimate and has rare beauty. “Not, thank goodness, the gnomic, snowball-stuffed-with-sugar Grieg,” as he writes. This 1s typical of his depth of appreciation and his wit throughout the book.

As a postscript there Is an imaginary letter from Rossini to Cardus, written from “Via

Dolorosa, Vole of Hades,” and ending “Yours in profanity." Rossini writes of the solemnity with which deliberately whimsical parts of his “Stabat Mater” were received at the Edinburgh Festival. The letter is a delightful tour de force on Sir Neville Cardus’s part and epitomises his insight Into Rossini’s mind.

This book Is entitled “The Delights of Music." In reading it one experiences at every page the delights of reading Neville Cardus.