MALE VOICE CHOIR’S CONCERT

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 303, 18 September 1936, Page 5

MALE VOICE CHOIR’S CONCERT

Favourite Part Songs Scarcely up to its usual strength numerically, the Wellington Male Voice Choir gave a concert to a thin audience at the Concert Chamber last evening. It was probably owing to defections that the standard of the partsinging generally showed a declension in quality in comparison with the choir’s work in former years. This is a matter for regret, as male voice choir singing is quite, an interesting branch of music, as is indicated by the many beautiful part songs scored for the four-part male voices. The programme opened with "God Defend New Zealand,” Which the programme nominated as our National anthem, though it is not so by grace of Parliamentary sanction. In this regard Canada is the only overseas Dominion which boasts a national anthem of its own (“The Mase Leaf for Ever”) However, “God Defend New Zealand” is a fine chorus which calls for a big choir to give it the required spirit of exaltation. A notably fine part-song for male voices is “Hymn Before Action,” by Sir Walford Davies, and it was right vigorously sung. In admirable contrast was Abt’s lovely partsong, "Holy Peace” (solo by Mr. W. Church). Coleridge Taylor’s “The Viking .Song” is valiant, vehement music which called for a greater tone body than the choir could present, and Dudley Buck's "On the Sea” was only fairly well sung. “Every Rustling Tree” (Kuhlau) is musical poetry, but the pianissimo treatment given the part song was without light aud shade, while that ancient musical joke “In Vocal Combat,” in which the tenors singing “When Other Lips” rage against the bassos singing “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep,” was not marked for its artistic finish.

More popular efforts were “Ring Out, Wild Bells” (Percy Fletcher), the beautiful Elgar numbers “As Torrents in Summer” and “It’s Oh, to be a Wild Rose,” aud the Stanford part-songs “Drake’s Drum” and “The Old Superb.” Other part songs were "The Fond Lover” (Bentock), "Night” (Schubert), “A Finnish Lullaby” (Palmgren), and "Evening” (Sullivan).

The choir had the assistance of Miss Ena Rapley, an exuberant vivacious soprano with plenty of voice, who sang ■‘Love Will Find a Way” (from “The Maid- of the Mountains”), "You in a Gondola” (Clark), “Parted,” (Tosti), and the Maori lilt “Pokarekare.” Mrs. George Holloway, violinist, whose G string tone has the breadth of a cello, was heard in Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” “Hebrew Melody” (Achron), “Reverie” (Vieuxtemps), and the sparkling “Les Cherubins” (Couperin). Mr. G. Holloway was her accompanist. Mr. Clement Howe acted in that capacity for the choir and Miss Rapley. The choir was under the direction of Mr. Frank J. Oakes, whose" connection with music in Wellington extends over half a century.