MUSIC.D

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 140, 7 March 1908, Page 12

MUSIC.D

i' I ; ■ ' [Bi TBHB'LE Clef.] - ■■■•■ ; Favourite Pieces. , ' Mr. Paderewski says tlint two very favour- 1 . ito picocs of his are Chopin's Ballade in A \FJat and the Fantasio in 1? Minor. The Fantasia is. rather .a sad.pieco to choosey but the great pianist gays that it carries 1 one from joy to despair and from despair to joy again,: : till the heart is'stirred, to its: depths by tho subtlo :romanop,with : which the work. is., iriipregnat'od. Other pianists have also selected .works by Chopin, and Herr Emil Sauor, Mr'i Leopold Godowsky and' Mr. Mark Hambourg . liavo all cited, tho B. Flat Minor Sonata with I the.Funeral March. On one occasionj when Herr Saner was playing the Funeral March j a .t a concert in jScbtland, the. death of his little boy, which' had occurred a short timo before, suddenly_'llashod into his mind. Immediately tho picce had a new meaning for him; and lie forgot the audience. and his whole soul went' out'to converso' through the music: with his; littlo child. The; performance was followed by, a storm of applause such as had never befin accorded to him before, even .rough workmen 1 -' in tho ! gallery had to wipo away tears from their checks. Mr. Percy Grainger most enjoys, playing Busoni's arrangement of Bach's Organ Prelude arid . Fiigue in ]) Major, Herr Richard Buliligriames Brahms'; B Flat Concerto; - and Mr. Mark JHambourg gives Schumann's Fantasia, Op. 17, as a second favourite, M. do PacliiHpmij who says he plays all music equally well, thinks the : questiii a r monstrous proposition.. Purposely he will not name Clropin,', but jie is willing to love best the ," magmfique, colossal arrangements " by Godowsky.' To turn to tho violinists,-Miss Marie Hall chooses Paganini's Concerto in D, partly be? cause it is associated/with sonio of the earliest- recollections',of her childhood; MrFritz Kreislor selected the Concertos of Beet-; hovon and Brahms, Mr. Jan Hambourg the! Chaconno of Bach, and Misclia Ulman refers to a passage in Brahms' Concerto, the principal theme of the Bret movement. 1 ' Who Found Her? . ' There is some doubt expressed regarding the actual " finding of Madame Totrazzim, who' at ( present is taking New York by: storm' at tho Manhattan Opera Houso. Mrs; Gertrude Atherton, tho well-known and brilliant American authoress, who is at present in ; London, claims that California was 'the first to discover the marvellous gifts, of "La -Tetrojszmi." Be . that as it may, .'Maduino: Totrazzini has,now brought off, to uso tho sporting phrase, " a treble event." Making' her first appearance in Buenos Aires, London, and New' York in "La Traviata," she' in each instance conquered, her audience at •the outset by her brilliant-'singing of "Ah, fors 0 lui," and then worked her way on to, a triumph by her superb interpretation of: Violetta r s music in the final scene. Her success has boen rightly attributed to tho fact that the has, obtained perfect control over a boautiful voice, of exceptional range and volume. ■ : Notes. .. ■' A London writer says:—"Everyone who hoard Watkin Mills sing last Wednesday evening at- tho Royal Albert Hall in 1 The Messiah ' agreed that lie was never in better vojco, and his interpretation of tho familiar music was something to bp remomb=red. Mr. Mills is constantly busy, both with concert ongagomeiits and also'with pupils who aro anxious to coach in oratorio with ' one who knows the traditions."' Signor Puccini, 1 whose operas of "La Bohonio" and "La Tosca," etc., have made his'liamo,familiar to all music lovers, is now engaged ;on a new. opera, tlio libretto of which is based oil Mr. David Belasco's stirring drama of Californian mining lifo, entitled "The Girl' of the Goldon West." Signor Puccini hopes to have his ppera finished about the end of this yoar, and tnoro' is, a possibility that the first performaiico will bo given at Cbvent Garden during the spring season of 1003. . ,-