CARILLON PLAYING

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 142, 13 December 1923, Page 20

CARILLON PLAYING

BELL RECITALS AT LOUGHS-

BOROUGH

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND BELGIAN MUSIC. .

t lu lmt:at lye of the Corporation of lioughborough in choosing a new park with completely equipped carillon tower for its war memorial has more than justified the most sanguine expectations of its success, writes A. Eaglefield Hull in the Manchester Guardian." All the famous Belgian carillonneurs have been heard and closing recitals have been listened to by larger crowds than ever. This player was Mr. Anton Nauwelaerts, of the Bruges Belfry,: who handled the instrument with the artistry of a firstclass organist or pianist. He played pieces of all kinds by Schubert, Benoit, Gounod, Elgar, Beethoven, Tschaikowsky, and scores of others. Those who place weight on the national question in music will find that quality here in its fullest power, for in the bell-ringing of Flanders we have an art that has been'zealously fostered by a single nation. For this reason it was a daring experiment for an English corporation, but the Loughborough audiences have surpassed anything encountered in Belgium, where the crowds sit and stand in the streets. In some of the Flemish cities, Bruges for instance, the traffic is suspended for the recital hour. At Loughborough this difficulty has been avoided by placing the carillon a little way out of the town in a park of its own. There the people listen to this bellmusic as quietly and intently as an audience at a piano recital in the Queen's Hall. The special art of listening has already developed too. There seemed to be few people who could not detect the different styles of the various bellplayers, and perceive that with most of thig music the Flemish strain is a very strong one. Nor is 'it any the worse for this, as the Belgian national melodies thus preserved are amongst the most beautiful in the world. The jar comes when the Flemish players attempt our national melodies; for their conception of them is in strong contrast to our own. It seems imperative that an English school of bell-players Bhould rise, and with this view the Loughborough Corporation has taken the bold st#p of appointing its own town carillonneur, Mr. Jordan, formerly a local organist. He has already attained such proficiency in the new art that his recitals are as numerously attended as those of the Belgians. The appointment of a, regular player overcomes one of the chief difficulties 01 the instrument, the want of_ standardisation; for no one carillon is like another, even in the important matter of key-measurement. The carillon is played from a manual keyboard and a set of pedals, not unlike those of an organ. The keys are usually struck with the cloied fist, but are occasionally seized by the hand for the tremolo. Leather gloves are mostly used to protect the hands, as the key-fall must bo deep to allow variety of expression and force. The Loughborough carillon possesses a complete chromatic eeries of ■bells extending ovc»/our octaves. The bells ar| fixed and not pwung, and range from the low C, weighing! four tons, up to the high G, a' small silvery bell weighing only a few pounds. The composing of music for the carillon is,/of course, a special art. The carillon'is not a pianoforte, and the tone of a good bell is unlike any other instrument of music. Most instruments have the harmonic of the major third well developed; in the case of a bell the minor third harmonic is more valuable. i For this reason compositions in the minor key are generally much more effective than those in the major. The lingering tones of the brass bell make o particular style, of note-arrangement necessary. This, renders many parts, as in orchestral music, unnecessary. Some of the most > effective chords remind one of the' Spanish guitar-players, especially as fourths are particularly effective on both instruments.

The Loughborough authorities are proposing to arrange some competitions and contests next year.