Freude der Musik Song Recital

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31501, 16 October 1967, Page 14

Freude der Musik Song Recital

Eleven members of the Freude der Musik presented a song recital to a small audience in the Museum Lecture Theatre, on Saturday evening. A concert of this nature affords a welcome opportunity for younger musicians to sing in public, giving them a greater confidence in performance.

Miss Wilkinson had produced a well-designed and compact programme of short works by various composers, ranging from Mozart and Pergolesi to Debussy and Kilpenen, but its shape was marred by long intervals between successive singers. Undoubtedly the best wine was kept until last. The sympathetic and polished singing of three Debussy songs by Helen Hayward, followed by the animated and lively Beethoven from Yvonne Stables, provided a satisfying finish to

this recital. The ease and control of the former, contrasting with the obvious enjoyment displayed by the latter, was greatly appreciated. Other interesting performers included Nancy Newland, Linda Trott, Helen Moulder and Neville Paris, who all knew how to use their voices to good effect. Three Mozart trios, performed by Helen Moulder, Marie Dalton and Ronald Armstrong, provided a welcome contrast to this solosong recital, although they had been hastily inserted because illness had compelled a change in the programme. The younger performers, Pauline Devine, Victoria Kilian and Gabrielle Andrews, showed great promise, although they exhibited a rather uneasy stage manner and lacked the feeling for style and sensitive shaping of phrase heard in the work of the older artists—elements of musicianship which in all cases will most certainly develop with experience. The strongest link in this rather disjointed programme was the accompanist, Christopher Gray, who supplied the support for all items. His playing was not always secure, although this may have been caused in part, by dim lighting on the stage. —J.M.J.