MALE VOICE CHOIR

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 139, 15 June 1931, Page 5

MALE VOICE CHOIR

PART SONGS AND OPERA

Slightly strengthened in numbers since last year, the Wellington ' Commercial Travellers' Male Voice Choir, under the conductorship of Mr. John Bishop, made its first appearance for the-:1931 season in the Town. Hall Concert Chamber, on Saturday evening. In spite of. many rival attractions, musical and otherwise, there was a large audience, which was not slow iv showing its appreciation of the fare provided. The choir has undoubtedly improved since its last appearance in public. The attack is crisp and the. balance.good, Mr. Bishop having,all sections under perfect control.- A plea§ing feature of Saturday's .: programme:. was...the of new fields in. place of the somewhat hackneyed part songs-frequently given at:these concerts. Probably the: most appreciated item in this respect was a group of1-six part songs which Grieg has based upon Norwegian folk songs. The six selected varied much -in sentiment and were , sung with much feeling, Mr. D. M. Anderson being the ideal soloist for them. He and the quartet (Messrs. G. M. Howe,.W. A. Gatheridge,. W. H. Church, and D. Hall) at .all times had adequate support from the choir. 'The six numbers were "I Laid Me Down to Slumber,-' "Children's Song," "Little Thora," "When I Take a Stroll," ''Eotnams-Knut," and "The Great White Host." The most formidable offering made by the choir was a portion of "Tannhauser," the first and second scenes from the third act.' A Wagner opera without an orchestra—a piano being totally inadequate—is rather like roast pork without, apple sauce. But the choir- sang, the "Pilgrims-Chorus" most impressively, the soloists being Madame -.Dorothy Cr.onin, who sang, the part of the hapless Elizabeth with feeling, and Mr. R. H. Dellow, who was entirely adequate as Wolfram. Other part songs presented by the choir were "The Lea Shore" (Cyril Jenkins), "Hymn to Cynthia" (Tours), "O Peaceful Night" (E. German), and "A Smuggler's Song" (Paul Edmonds). The humorous item (it seems to be an unwritten law that there should be one on the programme at each of these concerts) was Stevenson's "Idylle Mongolicnne," an elleged Chinese version of an English nursery rhyme, which can be guessed from the line "dozen two-time blackee bird cookee in a pie." This, like many of the other items, had to be repeated.

Wise choice was made as regards assisting artists. Madame Cronin, who has a beautifully clear soprano voice, most favourably impressed the audience, her rich notes being produced without apparent effort. "Mia Figliuol," from Meyerbeer's "11 Propheta," was her opening number, an insistent encore being responded to. She was also soloist, as mentioned above, in the choir's "Tannhauser" number. The always welcome' Mr. Claude Tanner played several daiDty and attractive 'cello solos, Goltermann's "Cantilena," Popper's "Papillon," "Adagio" from Haydn's "Concerto in p," and a couple of encore pieces. At the piano was Mr. Trevor Fisher, who was all that could be desired. For the humorous item Mr. W. A. Gatheridge shared the keyboard with him. ?-;After the interval Mr. Hugh Wright, the; president, presented bars for ten ijftiArs', continuous service to Messrs. M. Jpjpm, W. Shapeott, G. L. Stewart, W. -;mshurch, M. S. Galloway, H. F. Har-per,;-'W. A. Wilson, and D. Hall, each recipient being warmly applauded. In a short speech Mr. Wright referred to the present and previous recipients as the backbone of the choir. He rejoiced, he said, to see that there were still some people who liked to hear singing "iv the flesh" in preference to listening, to it over the wireless by their fireside, and he appealed for capacity houses and for move^ subscribing, members, so that the choir' might carry on its good work.