Beethoven concert

Press, 17 April 1979, Page 8

Beethoven concert

The Canadian-born pianist, Diedre Irons, will be the soloist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in the orchestra’s second subscription concert in the Town Hall on Saturday, night. Miss Irons made her solo debut at the age of 10 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and during her early teens she made many television and radio broadcasts. She gained degrees in music from both the University of Manitoba and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and in 1965

made further studies at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with Rudolf Serkin and Mieczylaw Horzowski. When she graduated from the institute she joined the faculty and taught there for seven years, during which time she also appeared as soloist with symphony orchestras in the United States and Canada. She gave chamber recitals in many North American cities and appeared with Pablo Casals in a nationally televised broadcast. She also recorded for RCA Victor. She came to New Zealand two years ago with her husband, Dale Gold, who had been appointed principal double bass with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Since then she has appeared on radio and television and given recitals with the NZSO concertmaster, Peter Schaffer. Last year she gave successful performances in the North Island of the Beethoven concerto with the NZSO. The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra’s leader, Paulene Smith, will be soloist in the opening item of Saturday’s concert, Beethoven’s Romance No. 2. No particular reason for

the existence of this piece and the first romance has been determined, but it is possible they were written for a violinist friend of Beethoven who asked for alternative slow movements for violin concertos by someone else. They may also have been begun earlier as part of Beethoven’s composition studies. The romances are melodious and gentle, but not technically easy and not without interpretive pitfalls. The concert will end with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, one of the most famous of symphonies.”