BRITISH MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 58, 9 March 1928, Page 9

BRITISH MUSIC

1 WAVE OF ENTHUSIASM SUGGESTION -FROM DOMINION , (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 25th January. Mr. T. Vernon-Grifliths (conductor of the Royal Christchurch Musical Society) complains in a letter to tUo "Musical Times" that for those in the Dominion who arc. engaged in the work of furthering the interests of music generally, and especially of the school teachers, students, and children, it is a difficult\ task to create a real interest in British music. "The . wave of enthusiasm which has spread over England for the work of English composers," he writes, "and for the work of those who to-day are bringing the Homo Country once more to tho forefront, has hardly reached this country. It is not yet realised here that conditions have changed at Home, and that British composers and British musical institutions are doing work of which any country might be proud. "A start has been made, however. At public lectures the gramophone is proving invaluable as a means for bringing the music of Hoist, Vaughan' Williams, John Ireland, Frank Bridge, Joseph Holbrooke, and many others to a first hearing, and some of the_ easier and shorter choral works aro being done by a musical society here and there. "But in too many places there is incredulity. Many of our people'left England in the days before tho present renaissance had started;.in those days when England'still looked to the Continent for everything musical. ' "It is true that wo 'have a liberal share of concerts given by various Continental artists, but as these performers usually limit their choice of music to about a score of well-worn works which have already been heard ad nauseam, it is perhaps too much to expect of them that they should include some of the outstanding modern British works in their programmes. ' . "• "Visits by British artists bringing with them exclusive programmes of British music are sorely needed. Could not the British National Opera Company, the English Singers, the choir of St. John's College, Cambridge, two or three of our leading pianists and violinists, and one of our best orchestras start a series of tours through the Dominions for the purpose of showing distant parts of tho Empire that British music past and present is something of which to be proud? "'There is a very real enthusiasm for music in New Zealand. The . excellentwork initiated by Mr. Douglas Tayler, the Government Adviser in Music, is already bearing fruit in the schools. It is no uncommon occurrence to hear children singing English folk- songs and shanties in the streets, and it seems to be the favourite recreation of students in certain centres. "It is sincerely to bo hoped that something may soon be done on the lines suggested above."