GOOD TALENT

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 133, 2 December 1926, Page 14

GOOD TALENT

VOCAL RECITAL BY STUDENTS,

There were few vacant seats at tlio invitation vocal recital by selected pupils of Mr. H. Temple White at the Concert Chamber last night. The programme submitted was an ambitious one, and the singers on the whole are to bo commended on their performances. Almost all showed evidences of patient and conscientious study along correct lines, and feeling, expression, and understanding were also pleasingly apparent. A feature of the programme was the inclusion of the two greatest ensembles in opera, the sextette from "Lucia di Lammcrmoor" (Donizetti) and the quartette from. Verdi's "Rigolotto." The standard of the sextette, suug by Miss Myra Sawyer, Mrs. W. J. Coventry, Messrs. Frank Bryant, Samuel Duncan, Charles Hickmott, and L. H. Daniell, was an agreeable surprise. A good tempo, was set*aud there was blend and unanimity. The quartette by Mesdames Hempton and Brady and Messrs. Samuel Duncan and Len. H. Daniell was a little disappointing.. Tho tenor lacked fervency and tho soprano was weak. Miss Nellie Amies was tho outstanding vocalist of the evening. She possesses a warm contralto voice that is well controlled and free from tremolo. Her big number, recitative and aria, "Che Faro," from Gh\ck's "Orfeo cd Euridice," was au effective example of simple pathos, and she also sang admirably "Now Sleeps tho Crimson Petal" (Roger .'(Juilter), "The Blacksmith" (Brahms)^ and "The -Bailiff's Daughter" (old English). Mr. Charles Hickmott is a baritone always well worth hearing because of his powers of interpretation, and "Sea Fever" (John Ireland) and "Mifawny" (Poster) gave him ample scope. He also scored in tho duet, "A Summer ISTight" (Goring Thomas), with Miss Amies. Miss Myra Sawyer; was applauded for her rendition of Tecitative and aria, "Jewol Song," from Gounod's "Faust," and she 'also gave "The Golden Nenuphar" and "The Two Roses," both by Granville Bantock, arid "The Wren," for which Mr. Claude Tucker played the flute obbligato. Mr. Len. H. Daniell, a basso, was equal to the demands of recitative and aria, "O Star of Eve," from Wagner's "Tannhauser," and "The Banjo," by Homer, was his encore number. Mr. Frank Bryant found the cavatina, "All Hail, Thou Dwelling," from "Faust" (Gounod), a little too big, but in "Ships of Arcady" (Michael Head) he was much more at home. The florid "Lo, Here the Gentle Lark" (Bishop), was beyond Mrs.. Elenor Hempton. Mrs. W. .T. Coventry, a contralto, sang "Invocation to the Nile" (Granville Bantock),- and as an encore "The Woodpecker" (Novin), and Mr. Samuel Duncan gave "A-Spirit Flower" (Campbell Taylor) and MacMurragh's "Macushla." Mr. Temple White gave his students groat assistance with hisaccompaniments. ...