A NIGHT OF MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 108, 9 May 1930, Page 4

A NIGHT OF MUSIC

WELLINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Wellington Symphony Orchestra has entered on the second year of its existence.'-' Last night, before a large audience;-it made.-its strongest plbato; date,.for a place for good .music- in the leisure hours of even the tired business man.». The enthusiasm of the originators of the orchestra continues iniabatcd and their energies hnvo been infectious. 'The instrumentalists seemed to be fewer last night than on some of the previous occasions, and two or three sections of the orchestra requiru strengthening, but they are becoming a more spontaneous unit". The strings are not as balanced as they might be, with"a 'consequent loss of depth in tone, and recruits are wanted for. the woodwinds. Last night the whole of the first half of the programme was devoted, to Mendelssohn, and the annotator carefully put the players on side by placing offside all those who asserted that Mendelssohn was "superficial" and the "first of the second-raters." "This suggestion," he said, "was evolved by a small section of the musical elect and readily adopted by a horde of the musically half-baked," It is extremely difficult to classify any composer, because each with any pretension to greatness has enough individuality to make it difficult to find sufficient points of resemblance. Mendelssohn belongs to the post-Beethoven romantic school, with Schubert and Schumann, and later,; Brahms. If one's admiration for Ms works places him alongside Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, and Brahms, he is- in the first flight, but if not quito up with them he is in the second. With the rislc of being catalogued by the annotator, one cannot sec where his claim to the highest order lies. ; The-^threc Mendelssohn works last night' gave a strong indication both of his greatness and of his limitations. Mendelssohn was one of the- very few great musicians bj>rn in fortuitous circumstances. All*tho luxuries of life were his, and it says'much for his character that h}s industry as a composer was incessant. .But it is rather unfortunate that life itself brought little experience. His music dwells almost exclusively on the sunny side. Barely, if even, does ho touch the innermost depths* :of .passion- and feeling. He had the gift of'melody dqual to the greatest, his tona-coJours' are as beautiful as anything in music. Had ho known adversity, as Beethoven and Schubert did lie might have ranked with them. In the opening- number, "Fingal's CaVe? overture,;some of the beauty of the;c6.ntrasts was /.lost owing to a-lack of body hi the Strings, which improved as the.'programme proceeded. The .conductor was Mr. Frank Crowfher. The brass came in well and there was strength in the fotissimo. There was a better string-tone in the ■' Mendelssohn violin concerto in B Minor, which Mr. Crowther again conducted, and Mr. Leon de'Mauny played the. solo. The rhapsodic.: .beauties 'of this work are "countless,:^ It .'has both colour and strength andits urge and impulsiveness demands mueh-'from both soloist and orchestra. Melody grows out of melody, phrases beget phrases. In Mr. do Mau'ny's playing there was no slackness or weakness. He nicely judged the scale of tone set by the instrumental background. Not once did his instrument lose its purity in the ascending'phrases. One might have liked a hatdet. ; edge on the tone in some of the more florid sections, and perhaps a more lyrical touch to. the^third movement, but it was unquestionably an outstanding performance. Mr., do Mauny took over the baton for the Mendelssohn Symphony in A Major. In tlris work Mendelssohn is in one of his most adventurous moods. For the most part it is gorgeously rich in texture, with many touches of original scoring and Mozart-like interludes for. strings and wood-wind; but Mendelssohn, makes more spectacular use of the brass. Thereare moments when it seems almost pompous. There are a few deeper moments in the symphony, though even in its darkest expression it is not more agitated than that, say, of prosperous gentlemen who when in elmreh desire to associate themselves with miserable sinners. The weakness of the- orchestra lay with the wood-Tvinds. The clarinet' was always true, but there were uncomfortable waverings elsewhere. The brass also did not strike the note squarely.' The conductor brought out the beautiful harmonies wonderfully well, got his climaxes with the slightest fuss, and never endangered the elegiac style. A vivid piece of "programme" music, Luigini's "Egyptian Ballot, opened the second half, and the lavish colourings and strong and^Eastern-flav-oured accents made the number a spectacular one. Then the orchestra turned to Sibelius's "Finlandia," and encountered something' that was beyond its present powers. Here is something as mysterious as some of the last quartets of Beethoven, and yet but a step-ping-stone to the composer's great .symphonies. The.: great bass .foundation is rugged and at times strange, and the general tone sounded too fastidious. Daintiness of-figuration is not one of Sibelius >s vanities. The .wood-winds also failed .to maintain their difficult .lino at times,'buiTit must be-said that few indeed are the orchestras that can give true- values tft the composer's thematic, harmonic', and rhythmical factors. The orchestra waV'tonally at its best in the suite -from Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha;" There were few slips hero, ana .the dainty structural outlines were always full of character. The intonations of the climaxes also were admirably performed. Tho concert concluded with'the "Bakoczy March" by Berlioz. -At times the sharp contrasts were realised ana at others the jump was too great, but the players always gavethe. next best thing, and the climstx showed that the conductor and his playeTS are capable of great things. There was a prolonged ovation for Mr. de Mauny at the close.