MUNICIPAL ORCHESTRA

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1290, 20 November 1911, Page 9

MUNICIPAL ORCHESTRA

SATURDAY'S CONCERT. - The final concert given by the Welling* ton Municipal' OrchestTa r and incidentally tho first of the. new. .series,.-attracted only a moderate-sized andienee to the Town Hall on Saturday evening, In. fe-.v places in the world could a programme of the class, with every item. ably, performed, be heard for the modest price ot sixpence, and when it is considered that twelve tickets for admission to nailery or front seats below, can now be obtained for 10s., it seems almost incredible that the Town Hall is not besieged. It may be that Saturday.is not the best evening of tho week for a good concert, owing to the number of people, many of them musical as well as music-lovers, being employed in business, but whether or not that is a valid reason for. Saturday's "house" not being so good as it should have been, one would like to make it clear to t'ho people who like good music that they are throwing away a golden opprtmcity, not only of gaining pleasure themselves, but of assisting a movement which will assure a measure of good orchestral music in Wellington for all time. The Municipal Orchestra is an enterprise the real importance of which has not been fully realised in this city. Yet tho movement has been much commented and written upon in nearly every city in Australia, usually in connection with the plea that it would bo well to follow Wellington's lead. Citizens should realise that the existence of such an orchestra is au artistic uplift in ■i small community like ours, and seeing how little we do to fester the arts at all in this bustling commercial centre, should do their utmost to assist' the enterprise. On Saturday evening the concert opened with Von Supne's popular overture, "Poet and Peasant, a very vivacious and melodious work, but one that is hackneyed to a degree. It was played with good swing, combination, and expression.. A number full of delicate chajm was tho "Air do Ballet" from Schubert's "Hosarriunde," a. dainty and beautiful dance measure, with some "extremely pretty work for the woodwinds, which lend a pastoral air to the music. The rhythm was splendidly marked, and the reading of Mr. Barnett, which was to bring out the delicate suggestion of the graceful dance in soft under tones, as something subsidiary to tho danco itself, was altogether successful. Another work new to Wellington which completely captivated the audience was a "Ballade in A Minor" by the negro composer Coleridge Taylor (who wrote such a charming cantata as "Hiawatha"). The ballade is a composition which increases one's respect for Mr Taylor as a composer of orchestral music. The work, which employs the full band, is full of warmth and bright colour, and is original. While there are bizarre tonches hero and there, as, for instance, the dominating drum rolls and ear-tickling passages for the flutes and oboe, tho '"Ballade" is » rnusicianly composition, with, an extremely beautiful, motif presented:in-a~variety/of forms. The orchestration'is superb, and "it" was done fair justice to by the orchestra. There was a little drag on the part of the first clarinet in one passage,' and the horns were uncertain in pitch and tone-production. The strings played with good unanimity anil tone, but with rather less body than usual. The first movement ot Beethoven's pianoforte "Concerto in C Minor" (with the cader.za by Carl Reinecke) was played by Mr. Horace Hunt and orchestra for the second time. Mr. Hunt is always musicianly, always correct, and always acceptable, and while ho played the Concerto very charmingly, did not infect the work with that character. Tho orchestrn did good work in the "Concerto," save for a slight drag in the early stages. The final orchestral number was the Festal March from Sir Arthur Sullivan's .incidental music to "Henry .VIII." Tin? corn<;ts were unduly modest. i:i their., fanfares : •—the character of the march-calls for .1 quartet of trumpets (not cornets), 'which would add that jubilant tone-to the ensemble. Mr. Maughan Barnett played as organ soli the larghetto and finale movements from Capocci's "Sonlta in G Minor," a little-known, but very beautiful composition, and Chopin's sweetlysolemn "Nocturne in E Flat/' played with commendable smoothness and suav-. ity. Mr. C. H. Stephens, the tenov vocalist of tho evening, was not in th-e best of voice, and the indulgence of the audience was asked on his behalf by Ml'. Barnett. He sang "0 Summer Time" (Battison Havnes), d new and .altogether charming setting of "Of a' tho Airts," by H. Walford Da.vics (which' Mr. Stephens sang tastefully), and "Mally," a lively song by tbe same " composer, the .gist .of which could not be grasped by two-thii:ds of the audience - owing .to tho singer's rapid utterance..,: Miss Ina Gow accompanied nicely.-', Tho programme. ..Announced that a. "special request!' organ recital. would be hold on Saturday evening. next,.'and th« orchestral concerts will be. resumed in. February-next.