THE SHEFFIELD CHOIR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1139, 29 May 1911, Page 7

THE SHEFFIELD CHOIR.

DUE HERE A MONTH HENCE. WHAT IS IT REALLY LIKE? The American papers' are beginning to come to hand with the opinion of American critics on the work of the famous Sheffield Choir, which is due in Wellington exactly a month hence. Says the "Detroit Free Press":—

"In the ordinary sense of the word, as it is understood hereabouts, the Sheffield Choir is not a choir at all. It is an immense symphonic instrument, made up of 20D master , singers, whose voices respond as delicately, as subtly, as perfectly, as instruments of an orchestra do to the baton of a conductor. It is an instrument whose tones are ns sweet, a-> clear, and as delicately adjusted as the tones of harmonised stringed ' instru'ments. The balance between the subchoirs is faultless. "As to Dr. Henry Coward,' the diminutive presiding genius of this, human symphonic organ, he has temperament, mastery and high poetic appreciation of tho possibilities of his art. "The organisation manifestly is capable of interpreting the most difficult and most exacting scores, that modern genius or eccentricity has invented. Tho one disappointment in the choral work, was that the conductor did not permit his singers to offer more out of the cream of their repertoire. Only once when it interpreted Elgar's 'O Song of Maine,' was tho choir given a fair chance, and in this number, the tone colouring was orchestral. Such'a thing never before had been heard in these regions. "Tho choir also sang the. ponderous, sometimes grandiose, but always thrice welcome choruses from The Messiah, marvellously well, and that famous glee, 'The Bells of St. Michael's , was transformed into a tone poem.- But on the other hand too much music that was good but without distinction crept in and prevented sustained interest. "In considering the soloists, it is necessary to remember that they were handicapped by probably the vilest piano ever furnished concert singers in this city. The work of Henry Turnpenney, the tenor, was too good to bo marred even by this. "His voice is of true quality and finely trained, and his big number 'Lohengrin's Farewell,' was ns effective as it well could be, torn from its almost necessary operatic setting. .Miss flertrude Lotlsdale, tho contralto, sang her recitative and aria from 'The Messiah' very effectively, but she was less hapn.v in her lighter numbers. The sonrano, Miss Jennie Taggert, has vocal chords of prodigious power, and all the technique necessary to make a singer, but technimio cannot transform' a naturally harsh voice into a thing of much beauty. Yet it must be recorded that Miss Taggert was the star of the evening in the estimation of the audience. Eobert Charlesworth, tho baritone, hns a fnir voice which he uses with discretion."