THE MUSICAL WORLD

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 196, 16 May 1936, Page 25

THE MUSICAL WORLD

(By

C.J.M.)

Vocal Stars in New Zealand. It is to lie hoped that the New Zealand Broadcasting Board is aware of the proximity of three distinguished vocal stars, and will take steps to see that the public is given an opportunity of hearing them over tlie air. They are Browning Mummery, the tenor, Florence Austral, flic brilliant operatic soprano, amide Vries, the celebrated bass. Muriel Brunskili. Writing of a Lieder recital given in the Wigmore Hall by Miss Muriel Brunskili, the great English contralto who sang here last year, tlie critic of the “Sunday Times” says: “To hear tliis voice of golden magnificence applied to tlie miniature art of the lied was most interesting.” He goes on to say that he has “tlie belief that the singer has it within her power to occupy a unique position as an interpreter of contratlo songs of this order.” Sydney’s Broadcast Opera. Sydney’s broadcast opera season advanced another stage recently with the performance of Borodin’s “Prince Igor.” This was the first Australian presentation of the brilliantly barbaric Russian work. Mr. Horace Stevens had the part of Igor. The previous broadcast of “La Traviata” proved exceptionally clear and charming. For once, no fault could be found with the balance of the various vocal and orchestral elements in the transmission; and the singers, headed by Miss Paulyne Bindley, as Violetta, and Mr. Lionello Cecil as Alfredo, gave a confident and eloquent reading of their roles. Eileen Joyce and Another. To three public appearances in Sydney, Miss Joyce added two short broadcast recitals. As her discs have already shown, the pianist’s style, so clearcut and pellucid, is ideal for mechanical reproduction; and such works as the Mozart D Major Sonata and two sonatas by old Spanish masters, Matteo Ferrer and Padre Antonio Loder, proved decidedly charming. The next musician whom the Broadcasting Commission is bringing from England is the distinguished Australian singer, Miss Dorothy Helmrich. She is due to arrive in Sydney on June 13, and will open her series of recitals five nights later. On July 22 she will appear as soloist with the State Orchestra at the Town Hall. A Gifted Vocalist. Visiting New Zealand at present is Annie Laurie Trewman, a gifted mezzosoprano, who has acquired a reputation throughout • England for her recitals at schools and colleges, in addition to many appearances at London concerts. Madame Trewmau’s talent was developed under such famous vocalists as Robert Radford, the English bass, and Reinhold von Warlicli, a German master. She has specialised in Lieder singing, and is recognised in England as one of the foremost exponents of this form of vocal art. Wellington music lovers will have an opportunity of hearing tliis gifted artist on Tuesday evening, when she will be the guest soloist at the concert to be given in the Town Hall by the Wellington Symphony Orchestra. Madame Trewern will be heard in a group of songs with orchestral accompaniment. The orchestra is fortunate in having secured the services of this talented singer, and her contributions to the programme will no doubt add materially to the success of the evening’s entertainment. A Conservatorium Coining of Age. The New South Wales State Conservatorium celebrated its coming of age recently. Twenty-one years ago the institution threw open its doors to the public with an orchestral concert. Henri Verbrugghen haying not yet arrived from abroad, this concert was conducted by a series of three musicians, namely, Mr. Alfred Hill, Mr. Joseph Bradley and Dr. (then Mr.) W. Arundel Orchard. Three months later, Mr. Verbrugghen took charge of tlie Conservatorium, and inaugurated a regime which flowered brilliantly in the State Orchestra, the Verbrugghen String Quartet, and the Conservatorium Choir. The Government was prepared to spend money on the official music centre in those days. As far as the artistic standard of concert-giving is concerned, it was a golden age. It lasted for seven years, until 1922. Then Mr. Verbrugghen resigned ; and his successors have had to carry on, iu the face of severe economies, us best they might. The celebrations began with an orchestral concert which was, to some degree, a repetition of that memorable event of 21 years ago. Dr. Orchard came from Hobart specially in order to conduct portion of the programme. He thus renewed an association with the Conservatorium which lasted through the eleven years of his directorate, until he was retired at the official age limit in 1933. Mr. Hill, who resigned his position as professor of harmony and counterpoint at the Conservatorium about two years ago, reappeared to direct a first performance of his own music, “The Voice of Nature,” which is a series, of five short tone-poems. At the original concert, the opening work on the programme—and, therefore, the first piece of music to be publicly performed in the building—was Beethoven’s “The Consecration of the House.’.’ Composed in 1522 for the opening of the Josefstadt Theatre in Vienna, these solemn strains, leading to an energetic fugue, made an appropriate and impressive introduction. Once aguiu the “Consecration” began the recital. it brought back memories of an extremely able, penetrating and high-minded musician; for Joseph Bradley, who conducted it in 1915, died iu England in March of last year. The third conductor was the present director of the Conservatorium, Dr. Edgar Bainton.