Conductor’s farewell

Press, 27 July 1976, Page 19

Conductor ’s farewell

Works of varied styles by Bruckner, Lambert, and Vaughan Williams will be featured when William Hawkey conducts his final concert as musical director of the Christchurch Harmonic Society in the Town Hall on Saturday. Anton Bruckner’s “Te Deum” was his last big choral composition, and h’s favourite. Interest has been growing in the music of Bruckner and Mahler, who are mainly remembered for their symphonic works, but who made other important contributions to music — Mahler as a song-writer and Btuckner as a prolific writer of sacred choral works. The “Te Deum,” for f".l' choir, soloists, and orchestra, is written in the bright key of C major, and the opening, “Te Deum Laudamus,” sets the mood for the whole work and recurs several times. The climax is a magnificent double fugue on the words "In te Domme speravi” and “Non confundar in aeternum,” used simultaneously and joined by trumpets and drums. “Rio Grande” is the best remembered of Constant Lambert's three works in

which the solo piano is included, although it was written when he was only 22. Il has unorthodox but. exciting scoring, for four trumpets in the brass section and an impressive array of percussion instruments for five players. Woodwind instruments are excluded. The work will be performed by the Chorale with Mr Hawkey’s successor, Dobbs Franks, as the solo pianist. Finally, the full choir will sing "A Sea Symphony,” by Vaughan Williams. The symphony contains expressive melodies and rich harmony, strongly characteristic of ‘‘the sea itself.' The words are from a poem by Walt Whitman. Vaughan Williams wrote this symphony in 1912, and in it he symbolised the new di reel ion English music was then taking, but retained traditional and folksong id’oms. The soloists will be' Emily Mair (soprano) Anthea Moller (mezzo soprano), Edward Driscoll (tenor) and Brian Hansford (baritone). Emdy Mair, who is Scottish, sang for three

years with the Glyndebourne Opera after intensive coloratura soprano training. She now lives in New Zealand, and frequently performs in opera, oratorio, solo recitals, on radio, and on television. Anthea Moller, who is well-known to Christchurch audiences, works in the music department of the Wellington Technical Institute and often takes part in conceits and radio performances. Edward Driscoll, born in Wales, now lives in New Zealand, and this will be his eighth concert appearance in the South Island. He is at present working in four opera productions. Br an Hansford is one of the best-known baritones in Australia, and has made numerous tours of New Zealand. He won the Melbourne “Sun” Aria Contest in 1957, and went on to study in Europe and gain further experience for both recital and concert woik. On a recent study trip to the United .States, Mr Hansford was introduced to a new technique for voice training and opera production which he now employs in his teaching in Melbourne.