ORGAN RECITALS AND VISITING ARTISTS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 271, 10 August 1920, Page 5

ORGAN RECITALS AND VISITING ARTISTS

Sir,-As a comparative stranger to Wei- ; lington, lam no judge of ways, but ; nevertheless am surprised at tho lack o! comment with which was received a recent letter from Messrs. J. and N. Tait ; to the Dominion, and I am still more amazed at tho contents of that letter. I can hfardly suppose tho people of Wnl--lington to bn devoid of all appreciation of music. Have they, then, abandoned all hope of getting their Oily Council to , leavo off discouraging the visits of any great artists who might appear on a con- ■ certjilatform at the Town Hall? I understand from the letter mentioned above that the action of the Welling- : ton City Council assures Wellington orio of its accustomed weekly organ recitals on the accustomed evening, at tho cost of depriving all New Zealand of an opportunity of bearing MoisoiwKsch! Perhaps >' nono of the council are music lovers; perhaps they are too preoccupied with i their usually thankless tasks to realisft J what this deprivation means to thousamle of people throughout Jmw Zealand. Well, when it comes to a question of choice botweon altering a date for a regular recital, and hearing a visiting artist, or doing tfro other thing, perhaps it de- ' ponds, in thoir judgment, upon tho musical status of the visiting artist in question. I have no wish to write an advertisement for anybody, but I think I may '. assure tho council that M. Benno Moisciwitsoli is not on his trial. Perhaps thoso | who scorn to let us hear him aro not • ; quite in tho sauio position. TVro is thus no question of belittling ; the fine work being done by tho city organist,- but 1 lake him to be too mo j a musician to like being V™™sl along with the rest of us, rotu heal g |anot?.or artist, just in order that ile. I city organist may toil for us upoa m» accustomed »^ 0 MUSIC. j