BLANCHE AREAL AND CO,

Evening Star, Issue 13014, 8 January 1907, Page 6

BLANCHE AREAL AND CO,

THEIR FIRST CONCERT IN NEW ZEALAND.

An uncommon sound, the fingering of barpstrings, called to attention the drowsy ones who were wanting for the'concert- to begin at His Majesty’s Theatre last night, and a frontal glance showed tho orchestra to consist of violin, piano, flute, harp, and cornet. By this somewhat unusual combination a short overture by the composer of ‘Mignon’. was given in promising style, harp and flute being very good indeed, violin conspictdotisly clever m tho lead—all, in fact, doing well bar the cornet, which was thick in tone and a wee bit flat. The performance received its adequate reward. Then the stage was opened up, showing a theatre scene, and Madame Blanche Arral came on to sing the page’s song from ‘The Huguenots.’ For this the songstress did not assume the page’s clothes, but wore an evening dress that to a man’s eyes seemed to be quite out of the ordinary—a dress of black satin, profusely but tastefully painted in, a floral design. Hot easy and happy manner on the stage biased everybody in her favor, and as soon as she began to sing the audience were perfectly satisfied as to the musical quality of her voice in the medium register and tho knowledge that enabled this fine organ to be used to advantage. Coming towards the finish of the song, the shake was perhaps a little open and the upper notes somewhat thin by comparison -with the glorious richness of those in tho stave. Bui it occurred to the listener that these drawbacks might be caused by some temporary and curable disability, self-proceeding or in the surroundings. One manifest disadvantage to which she was subjected was the tendency of the orchestra to loudness and also to anticipating the voice. This did not seem to disconcert Blanche Arral, but she may have felt its influence. The treatment of the song afforded abundant evidence that the viator is a very fine singer—her negotiating of the, scale passages was little short of wonderful —and the audience noted with pleasure her wide resource and comprehensive musical knowledge. So far, however, what they admired most was the magnificent interpretation of the song. It has been often sung here, tho people understand it, and those present last night were delighted with the way that Blanche Arral preserved its character as belonging to the opera. Quite different was her treatment of the second song cm the programme, ‘ Le Timbre de Argent,’ by Saint-Saons. It and the page’s song are both of tho joyous kind, hut Blanche Arral perceives and can indicate the half tones of the emotions, and the gaiety of the love song was made altogether distinct from the gaiety of the page's salutation. If the Meyerbeer air was the greater of the two from a judge’s point of view, the charming song by Saint-Saens had quite as much if not more effect- upon the audience, who were quite enchanted by the .merriness of the rendering and felt as much cartifd away by the song as the singer was. Signor Torzillo, tho harpist, next appeared. He is a good player, unusually quiet in manner, his strong point tho equality of the notes in soft passages and the variety of light and shade he -has m strict piano. Tho audience were greatly pleased with his - treatment of 1 La Hirqndell© Perdu,’ and not so much taken with his Scottish airs, the harmonies of ‘Annie Laurie’ and ’The Blue Bells of Scotland being somewhat poor and conventional, I or her second appearance, to ring Laura’s song at the end of the first act of ‘The Beggar Student,’ Blanche Arral wore a red Hungarian riding dress, and the stage grrangements showed a residence square. ruis song is not well known hero, therefore the audience had to judge it strictly on the vocalisation, and this was simply delightful. Here, as in the earlier song, the artist, though probably itching for the greater freedom that the opera proper would give, (consistently remembered that it was a concert performance, and did nothing to inake one regret the absence of the opera, environment, being content to Simply ensure the best use of the attainable setting and thus effect a happy compromiseas between concert and opera. Blanche Arral, in short, brought no questionable influences to bear, bnt relied almost wholly upon downright good smg : ing and characteristic interpretation, and the effect was irresistible, ■ making all pretent feel as though they had known Laura for over so long. Demands for an encore arising from all parts of the house, Blanche Arral captivated her audience with a .sparkling and vocally irreproachable rendering of ‘La Veritable Maneda’ (by Bourgeois), in acknowledgment of which the applause broke out louder than ever, whereupon the songstress obligingly returned, and as soon as site could get hold of the violinist (who, never dreaming of a double encore, had loft the well to prepare for his solo), gave an acceptable rendering of ‘Sing me to sleep.’ finding the unaccustomed English words no difficulty. Herr Paans, the vioEnast, then got his chance, and he made excellent use of it by playing in rare style the ‘ Fesle Polonaise ’ by Hamm- Herr Paans is a very fine violinist. His octaves were absolutely true, both hands were in agreement,' thus enabling him to get tone and to put in a lot of neat and delicate work with rare precision, he kept nicely tie dance character of the theme, and he had the aid of a lovely peculiarly rich and full on the G. Wo did not care so much for the Wiemaavski mazurka ; it was rather on. the pretty side, and lacking in spirit. It was to impersonate Marguerite as well as to sing the jewel song that Blanche Arral then come forward, ami the people welcomed the ‘Faust’ extract most heartily. Maybo the Marguerite presented was the Marguerite of Gounod rather than the Marguerite of Goethe, but that is, what we are accustomed to. In conception the traditions of the opera were pretty well adhered to. We liked Blanche AixaTs ‘King of Thule’ very much indeed, even though the wheel seemed) more refractory than usual, and if-jm-the-eingiag of^the

jewel eong the artist expressed rather less than the usual admiration and surprise ovetf -the-contents trf the casket,—this -was-mads—-up for in a consistent and; thoughtful rendering of the music, a point about tb« ringing being that it never seemed to b« at all nigh or difficult to get at ..It,.was, however, in the second part that Blanche Arral scored the hit of the evening,' as Mignon. Evidently she has made a special. study, of tie Mignon music. The recitative and romance ‘ Uonnaio tu la pay's.’ was given with unaffected pathos and sincerity; the swallow song came to us with the raze qualities of lightness and freedom from effort; the dramatic recitative can tab He in which Mignon expresses her jealousy ol Filiina was full of emotion and force; and then, after a short space to re-dress, during which Heir Pains played the ‘Mignon 1 gavotte,. Blanche Arral emerged as Titania and stirred the hearts of her audience with a rendering of the famous polacca that will be remembered for the admixture of expression with the required brilliancy. This was a great triumph. The people dapped and stamped, and would not be content till the singer came on again. As aia encore piece she chose Varney’s delightful bird valse, and in it came to the cmnas of her successes on the vocal side. More vociferous applause enticed the artist back once more, and this time, we heard a vers© of ‘loch Lomond.’ This brought a successful concert to a dose about ten o’clock. The second concert will be given on Wednesday. ,