English conductor in Chch

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 10

English conductor in Chch

The human voice is the most expressive of all musical instruments, says Sir David Willcocks, one of the leading choral conductors in Britain, who is in Christchurch this week to conduct two concerts. The first is a programme of Handel, with the Christchurch Harmonic Society in Christchurch Cathedral tomorrow evening. On Saturday evening, in the Town Hall, Sir David will conduct the Royal Christchurch Musical Society, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in a performance of "Belshazzar’s Feast,” by Sir William Walton. Sir David, who is director of the Royal College of Music in London and conductor of the Bach Choir, conducted concerts in Wellington and Auckland last week. He also judged the finals of the 1980 Wales

i Bank School Music Contest in Wellington on Sunday. Sir David, who toured ’ New Zealand as a guest coni ductor in 1977, said the i standard of choral singing he had heard so far was : very good. “It is quite . remarkable when you take i into account the total popu- • lation of New Zealand.” i He said he was impressed . with the instrumentalists m ■ the school music contest, i whose playing' equalled : world standards, but he was . disappointed with the vocal- ' ists who app'eared to be • "lagging” behind the mr strumental sections. ■ Sir David said he would like to see all children get ■ the chance of experiencing ’ choral music. . “It has been my ex- , perience that all children ■ can be taught to sing well, t he said., “The benefits of ! music training for children > is beyond doubt because it

can be an interest that wWI o j ve them fulfilment throughout theirlives. I Sir David said his own love of choral music began ( when he joined the choir of Westminster Abbey at the age of nine. Although competition to get into the choir ws keen, he said, ( his own voice was “average. Before he became director of the Royal . College of Music in 1974, Sir David spent 17 years as the director of music at Kings College, Cambridge. He was previously organist at Salisbury Cathedral and Worcester Cathedral. . Sir David said he visited New Zealand because of his long-standing „ fr ‘ ends ~’E s with Professor Peter Godfrey, of Auckland, and Mr John Knox, chairman of Wellington’s Orpheus Choir. Also he had come because o. the many New Zealanders he had met at Cambridge and the number of gifted New Zealand students who had attendtar the Royal College of Music. It was refreshing to be a guest conductor; each choir had its own problems ana weak parts. “You must look around and see what you can do with the choir m a limited time,” Sir David said that although he enjoyed music by many different composers, his favourite was Bach because he wrote for all moods and his music was of

a consistently high standard. Contemporary music was challenging, and he hoped during his visit to hear some works by New Zealand composers.

“What is worrying about modern music is that the gap between the composer and the audience is widening. That is because some composers are out of touch with the people for whom they are writing, and they are not aware of the difficulties of the music they write.”