GOOD PART SINGING

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 43, 14 November 1932, Page 7

GOOD PART SINGING

Commercial Travllers’ Choir MRS. ANDREWS’ ARTISTRY Good part singing for male voices is always expected from the Commercial Travellers’ Male Voice Choir, and in this there was no disappointment at the concert given in the Concert Chamber of the ' Town Hall on Saturday evening, in the presence of a large and appreciative audience. Old part songs were judiciously, interspersed between the new, and the diversity was studied in the compilation of the programme. The first number after the “Anthem’’ was that stout old favourite “Strike the Lyre” (Cooke), which affords ample scope for expression, admirably marked as between the cantabile treatment of the penultimate verse, and the fine vigour which the final passage, with its Handelian runs, demands. Another eharming old number, one seldom heard, was Schubert’s “The Hours Are EJeeting,” in which Mr. W. Goudie sang the solo. Quaint and unusual in metre and melody was Dvorak’s “Village Gossip,” which concerns two lovers who interchange gifts of flowers, and are consequently the subject of gossip, but with admirable philosophy the young man says, with a hint of promise : — "Darling girl o’ mine, heed them not; Scorn their spite and fuss; With the fall of the leaf Folk’ll cease to talk of us.” Palmgren’s “Finnish Lullaby” is merely the well-known pianoforte piece, known under the generic title of “Berceuse,” whieli has been cleverly for male voices. Particularly .intriguing is the end, where the melody is given an effective sustained ground bass. This number had to be repeated. “They rhyme and chime and mingle, They pulse, and boom and beat And the laughing bells are gentle And the mournful bells are sweet.” So runs the rhyme iu the tuneful "St. Mary’s Bells” part song, set to the lyrics of John Masefield. The tintinabulation and boom of the bells in the ding-dong phrases were excellently done. Bantock has not made any improvement on the original song “Down Among the Dead Men’ in his contrapuntal setting of the old air, which was emphasised by the delightful singing in straight harmony of the Tom Moore melody, "Oft in the Stilly Night,” sung as an encore, but Bantock’s setting of Sir John Suckling’s "The Fond Lovei'” is pleasing and was nicely sung. Other good numbers were “I Loved a Lass” (Dyson), “On the Banks of Allan Water,” and the spirited buccaneering part song, “The Song of the Jolly Roger,” which had to be repeated. Mrs. Wilfred Andrews is always artistically refreshing with her sweet gravity of approach and apt expression allied to a mezzo voice of exceptional quality and an exceptional choice in song. She completely fathomed the dramatic stir of Grieg's “Autumn Storms”; and "0, Could I But Express in Song” (Mylarski) and the second encore, “Summei' Rain” (Willeby), were both delightfully sung. In the second half Mrs. Andrews charmed the audience with her exquisite singing of Vaughan Williams’s "Silent Noon,” and was equally pleasing in the dainty “Love in Spring” (Gounod). The encore was Homer's "Banjo Song.” Mr. S. E. Rodger, a sound baritone who sings with rare intelligence and feeling, sang with pronounced success “The Garden of Allah’ (Marshall), and as encores “June Music” (Trent) and "The Little Irish Girl” (Lohr). As pianoforte soli Mr. John Bishop played Chopin’s “Nocturne in D Flat," “Puck” Grieg), “Sonetta 123 del Petrarca” (Liszt), and as an encore an attractive “Reverie” by Richard Strauss. To Mr. Bishop’s able conducting was due the major success of the concert. An announcement in the programme stated that as from February 1 the Commercial Travellers’ Choir would be known as the Wellington Male Voice Choir. The personnel of the chotr is to remain unchanged, and an endeavour is to be made still further to improve the standard of programmes and performance. . .