A young man’s symphony

Press, 26 April 1978, Page 23

A young man’s symphony

A symphony written when the composer was only 16 will be featured by the Canterbury Orchestra in the Christchurch Town Hall on Saturday 29, in the fourth concert in its Schubert symphony series. The concert will feature performances Of the Schubert Symphony No. 3, Handel’s Water Music Suite No. 1, and “The Four Temperaments,” a work by Paul Hindemith

for piano and strings. The distinguished New Zealand pianist, Janetta McStay, will be soloist. Schubert’s third symphony was written in 1813, for the ensemble of the Imperial and Royal Stadtkonvikt, where Schubert was a student, and is a fine example of the young composer’s skill and innovation. He boldly entrusts the main theme of the first movement to the clarinet, providing an early and notable instance of its use in such a role in symphonic music. The work is a delightful and spontaneous creation, illustrating that Schubert, at 16, was already at the height of his powers.

The Water Music Suite No. 1 by Handel will be played in a new edition recently published by Barenreiter. Many fanciful stories have been told about the first performance of the Water Music, but a newspaper report taken from the “Daily Courant” of July 19, 1717, is likely to be the most reliable.

“On Wednesday Evening at about 8, the King took

water at Whitehall in an open Barge wherein were also the Duchess of Bolton, the Duchess of Newcastle, the Countess of Godolphin, Madame Kilmanseck and the Earl of Orkney. And went up the river towards Chelsea. Many other barges with persons of quality attended, and so great a number of boats, that the whole river in a manner was covered; a City Company’s barge was employed for the Musick, wherein were 50 instruments of all sorts, who played all the way from Lambeth (while the barges drove with the tide without rowing, as far as Chelsea), the Finest Symphonies composed express for this occasion, by Mr Hendel; which his Majesty liked so well that he caused it to be plaid over three times in going and returning. At 11 his Majesty went ashore at Chelsea, where a supper was prepared, and there was another very fine Consort of Musick which lasted till 2; after which his Majesty came again into his Barge, and returned the same way, the Musick continuing to play till he landed.” Paul Hindemith was born in Germany in 1895, and after serving a long, hard apprenticeship as composer and performer came to be recognised as one of the great creative forces in music in this century. He was a practical musician and these qualities are evident in his music. “The Four Temperaments” for string orchestra and piano, written in 1940, gives musical realisation to the four temperaments of man. as they are defined by medieval writers and philosophers — melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic, and choleric. The result is a fascinating series Of variations on the theme of human nature.

Janetta McStay, the soloist in this performance, was born in Invercargill, won a scholarship in piano to the Royal Academy of Music, London, when she was 17, and in two years there as a student won several of the major piano prizes. From 1942 to 1946 she was engaged by the music division of E.N.S.A. and

gave concerts throughout Great Britain, in France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany for the British armed services. Subsequently she travelled extensively in Britain for the Arts Council, giving recitals, performing in concerts, and broadcasting regularly for the 8.8. C. At this time, Miss McStay was invited to perform in Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain, where she made a particular study of Spanish music.

Since her return to New Zealand in 1954 her emphasis has been jointly on chamber music and on teaching at the University of Auckland, where she is associate professor. She

has toured with the Borodin String Quartet, Henryk Szeryng, Ruggiero Ricci, Zvi Zeitlin, and Ladislav Jasek, and more recently has been associated with the violinists, Wanda Wilkomirska and Alfredo Campoli. Her students have included prize-winning pianists, such as Christine Cuming, David James, and Patrick O’Byrne amongst many others. In addition to the performance in the Christchurch Town Hall, the. Canterbury Orchestra will make its first trip to Akaroa, where the programme will be presented in the Gaiety Hall on Friday evening.