SYMPHONY CONCERT

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 34, 3 November 1933, Page 12

SYMPHONY CONCERT

Beethoven’s Eighth

FINE PIANO-PLAYING ' - I Last evening’s concert by the Wellington Symphony Orchestra—the last for the current season—was notable for two reasons. The first was the cooperation of an unusually fine pianist. Mr. Andersen Tyrer, with the orchestra in two concertos, the Arensky and the Liszt A major; the second was an excellent reading by Mr. Leon de Mauny, the orchestra’s conductor, of Beethoven’s eighth symphony. Mr. ■ Tyrer made a deep impression upon his listeners and at the end of each of his performances received a prolonged ovation, 1 very well deserved. The programme opened with Wagner’s “Rienzi” overture, in which the ’cellos in the opening phrases produced good warmth of tone. Mr. de Mauny kept a good balance of brass and strings all through and at no time allowed the increasing turbulence of the music to degenerate into mere noise. The performance of this work and also that of the pleasant Massenet “Scenes Pittoresque,” which closed the programme, was always satisfying. The main achievement of the orchestra, however, was its playing of the symphony—the little symphony Beethoven used to call it, probably in contrast to the massive work which precedes it. It may be slight in form, but in its wealth of ideas and its imaginative treatment it. is as striking as the seventh, its companion in mood. It might be the work of a jovial giant, one with a prcdeliction for the playing of practical jokes. Beethoven, neither before nor after, ever managed to cram so much joyful frolicking into one work as he has done here. ' The sudden ending of the first movement and the quaint Italian finish to the lively scherzaiido are typical of his humour. In the last movement he perversely reverses the procedure and ends in a welter of tonic and dominant just to express the bubbling-over of his spirits. Mr. de Mauny had the right conception of the work right from the start. He drove his players along and steadied them at the climaxes in good style. Best of all he always managed to preserve and stress the significant rhythm of each movement, aud this revealed the- real truth of its character, for if ever a work depended chiefly, not on thematic material, but on an essential rhvthmie basis, it is this eighth symphony. The orchestra itself was a little uneven. The strings and some portions of* the brass were very good throughout; the other instruments had occasional lapses from accuracy.. In the Arensky concerto, which he played first, Mr. Anderson Tyrer made his mark at once. He displayed . a beautiful tone that never varied its fine quality over a wide dynamic range. His pianissimo playing in particular was a delight. There were 'times, however, when he demanded from the orchestra more in the way-of delicacy than it was able to give him. This was especially so In his poetic statement of the first Chopin-like theme in the Arensky; the charm, of his tone and the beauty of his phrasing did not always obtain their full effect. The orchestra, too, was lacking in crispness in its enunciation of the themes of this work, a defect made noticeable by contrast with the freshness of Mr Tyrer s playing. However, the placid beauty of the first two movements and the animation of the last were well realjlr. Tyrer’s impeccable technique was given a more obvious opportunity for display in the Liszt A major concerto in which conductor and pianist kept an excellent balance. One of the best things about Mr. Tyrer s playing is the manner in which he also manages to keep some power in reserve. There is never the slightest feeling or strain when listening to him and he is always able, when the real climax arrives, to give it its value. He made this very apparent in the Liszt and by his gnisp of the work as a whole made its unusual construction always intelligible. _ . The other soloist on the programme was Mrs. Wilfred Andrews. She was in splendid voice last evening, and her fine contralto was heard at its best 1 two well-known' arias from Saint- . Saens's “Samson et Dalila, . lair Spring is Returning,” and Softly Awakes My Heart.” Her singing of the former number was particularly ffood. Madame Evelyn de Mauny as usual was an excellent accompanist.