BRITISH VERSUS FOREIGN STARS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3149, 25 December 1922, Page 8

BRITISH VERSUS FOREIGN STARS.

(By Francis To ye.)

London has been enjoying visits from' a number of musical "stars." Pachmaun, Cortot, and Backhaus have played to us; Hempel and Paul 1 Rjeimers have sung. It has, I fear, become distressingly obvious that these artists reach a standard l of perfection in their. various ways to which none of our British artists seems to attain. What is the reason ? It must not be imagined for one moment that I think, or that any sensible person thinks, that there are not several British executive artists of the first class. Only the perverted snobbery prevalent in certain musical circltesi in London could countenance such an idea. 1 can think of a dozen names which would adorn any programme anywhere in the world. What IS difficult to understand, as* one of our best music critics remarked the other day, is the apparent inability of our best artists to take the comparatively small' step that leads fro mi great excellence to consummate perfection. Perhaps the; truth in that the step is not really so small. Obviously, tins inust remain ai matter of opinion. Small or large, however, there is clearly some reason for its not being taken. Is it a reason of nationality? Or of training? Or of environment? " I do not believe for one moment that nationality has anything to do with the matter. Neither actually nor historically is there any reason why there should not be an Anglo-Saxon Pachmann or Hempel. Indeed, there have been one, if not two, Anglo-Saxon Hempels already. But there are none now. I am convinced that we English have musical potentialities at least as great as those of other nations. Only we do not make the best of them. The trouble lies, I think, with the audiences before which our artists perform. They are so amiable, so generous, so utterly uncritical. They do not demand perfection of performance so much as the maximum of reputation. Foreign artists come here with the reputation, having acquired: the perfection, of performance in their own countries, where the public is more critical. Moreover, it must be admitted that as a rule English musicians understand the business side of their profession less well. Their merits are less skilfully advertised. So that they suffer on both counts. They are' no;' being continually egged on to do their best; thev suffer, even when they do their best', from the failure of the public to appreciate the fact. Indeed, it is to-be feared that the public has to be told beforehand what is best if d is to appreciate it to the full. • Before the English public can expect a crop of English "stars" it must change its own nature. It must cease to favor or even to tolerate amateurishness. It must turn itself into a public of connoisseurs. Then the whole atmosphere of English music will change. It is admittedly an uuexhilarating atmosphere at the present time, ranging between the extremes ol respectable pedantry on the one hand and of gross ignorance on the other. II and when the conditions become really propitious, there will arise plentx ol great artists to satisfy them. Ihc law of supply and demand holds good, in music as in everything else.