ENTERTAINMENTS. A YOUTHFUL GENIUS.

Evening Post, Volume LCCVI, Issue 126, 26 November 1908, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS. A YOUTHFUL GENIUS.

MASTER HAYDN BECK'S CONCERT. Of old the fairies dowered favoured infants in the cradle with rare gifts — with intuitive knowledge and skill towhich ordinary mortals could attain, 'f they attained at all, only by many years of^lose 6tudy and arduous practice. Even in our own prosaic days there is now and then a similarly-gifted infant, but only two gifts seem to remain at the fairies' * disposal — Music and Mathematics. The classic example of tho musically-gifted child is Mozart, to ■whom from the first melody and harmony came as early as or earlier then speech, and who could play, as by instinct, on every new instrument he touched. Some such gift has come to little Haydn Beck, eight years old, a native of Wanganui, a bright boy with a faultless ear, already an accomplished performer on the violin, and" a composer jto boot. His father, a teacher of music, has so far been his only instructor; but his friends feel that Nature has so obviously marked nim out for a musical career that it is only right that he should have the advantage of the best possible training. With this object in view, he is making a tour of the islands, and wherever he has j played he has aroused much interest. ' His first 'concert in this city was given last night in the Concert tihamber of the Town Hall, when he was assisted by a number of well-known local musicians. The performance was attended by the Mayoress and other prominent citizens, and the body of the hall was well filled. The first appearance of the little musician, with his miniature violin, took the audience almost by surprise. A bright, open-faced, smiling little chap, perfectly at ease, bowed to the applauding audience, and started at once with. Bohm's difficult "Gavotto Grazioso." The first no*.es were struck with a confidence and firmness that gave promise of what was to follow. The sympathetic rendering, the swift and accurate treatment of the rapid passages, the accurate phrasing, astonished the hearers ; and in the still more difficult bracketed piece, "Allegjro con Fuoso" (Veraeirii), the like qualities were displayed. In response to a general encore, he gave Elgar's "Saiut d' Amour." In hia second appearance he gave a composition of his own, a Serenade in E flat, a simple and melodious theme, repeated again and again with graceful variations. (He writes music readily, and at his first public appearance, at the Christchurch Exhibition, he played a piece he had, composed at the age of six). This was followed by Moffatt's "Hungarian Mazurka," and as an encore piece, Schumann's "Traumerie." But the most remarkable exhibition was reserved to the end — De Beriot's "Violin Concerto" — a composition which would severely tax a performer of maturer years. The physical exertion, demanded by the first part alone, the "Allegro Maestoso," was tremendous, and the second part, "Andante Tranquilio," was little less intricate, though at a more moderate pace; but the final "Allegro Moderato" again demanded every faculty on the part of the player, yet) every difficulty was triumphantly surmounted, and he withdrew — evidently a .little tired — in a tempest' of applause — applause so long continued that he reappeared and played, with tender and sympathetic expression, the evergreen "Home, Sweet Home." Not the Jea'st. ' remarkable feature 'of this child's performance is his extraordinary musical memory, as ho had) nofc a written note before him from first to last. Mr. D. Kenny ably supplied ,the accom- • paaiments. The local artists who assisted were Miss Amy Hyde, who sang two pleasing ballads ; Mr. E. Parkes, who sang a ballad and was encored ; Mr. Ernest Archer, whose contribution was a familiar but always stirring operatic selection, and an encore ballad ; and Mr. J. F. Carr, who sang an old Welsh, favourite, a song by Tosti, and a ballad in .response to a recall ; Miss Amy [Remington, whose piano solo, Chopin's "Impromptu," was marked by fine expression and technique, and Mrs. F. W. Gardiner and Messrs. T. T. Joy, J. K. Gillies, and H. M'Farlane, who contributed two instrumental quartettes. Another concert is announced for tonight, when a Christchurch vocalist, Mrl Claude Allan, will sing for the fiist time in Wellington. Music-lovers will, we think, be well represented, and there should be a full house.