ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY

Evening Star, Issue 14224, 25 November 1909, Page 7

ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY

Glow and animation permeated the overture to 'Das Nachtlager in Granada,' as played, by the Dunedin Orchestral Society at the opening of last night's concert. The inspiring character of the interpretation made one almost forget the hardness of the brass and quite forgive the want of " top " to the orchestra. The full-band work was very brisk, and the agitato passage delightful. Of the -soloists, the bassoon, the euphonium, and the piccolo deserve special praise. But the string lead was so weak. It wanted about five more first violins. In Dunldef's ' Reverie' the upper strings got their show; in fact, they had it all to themselves, and, being muted, of course the item met with special approval. Anything with the mutes on, or iiv pizzicato, or by any trick reduced to bloodlessnes3, 13 sure of doublo applause. However, this piece was nicely played, and the 'cellos aro to be thanked for their accord in the melody of the secoud part. Though, by the way, the intonation of these instruments was not in other places free from suspicion. The imperishable 'Larghetto' of Beethoven's ' Symphony in D'. made a most acceptable backbone to tho first part of the programme. Probably no movement in any of the classic competitions has been so freely levied upon as this pure and lovely larghetto. To bo candid, it was not particularly well played. It could not be, for want of strength in the first violins, and more smoothness would have been an improvement. Yet, whilst the listener was all through wishing for something better from the instruments, he was kept under a spell by the charm of the music, and felt his heart singing it, so there must have been underlying merit in the rendering. As a test of"what the orchestra can do, nothing finer in the dramatic line has been given by this society tor a long time than the overture to 'luenzi.' Mr Coombs, the honorary conductor, had the pleasure of hearing the performers sticking obediently to his directions, and the precision was simply marvellous for amateurs, with the result that a splendid body of tono was produced and the rapid crescondos came like thunderclaps. One might have desired more reability in the brass, and the upper strings were too few, but for character and downright accord tho overture stands out as one ot the society's masterpieces. The selection from Mendelssohn's 'Songs Without Words' was a severe disappointment. The selection seems to be of little musical value in itselt, and it destroys the beautv of these songs. Moreover, the orchestra seemed to treat the selection as a contnuation of • RTenzi,' and that is not the Mendelssohn character or anything like it. Xos. 27, 30, and 4 were simply defaced and mangled. In No. 27 (andante maestoso) the only player who. caught the right tono was the euphonium, with those demi-soini-quavers towards the end. The last item was a (Selection from 'Boccaccio,' played a little carelessly, but in a rollicking manner that suited the music. Tho cooper's song and the dance were the best extracts. Miss Pacey and Mr F. G. Duncan were the singers. Mr Duncan, who was accompanied by Miss Longford, proved an immediate success. He has a light baritone voice of good quality, ho sings in tune, ho utters tho words irreproachably, and he has temperament. Moreover, he chose one good song, 'Trooper Johnny Ludlow.' His second contribution was one of those trifles of which about six are needed to make a song. Miss Pacev scored a distinct success in Mallinson's '6 thank me not,' tc which a beautiful accompaniment was played by her brother. The old-fashioned but still acceptable ' Alia Stella Conh'dente' was carefully sung, but with rather too much intensity. Mr Naumann, in the violin obligato, had the more correct idea as to the interpretation. Miss Pacey's third song seemed to be barren of musical thought, and net worthy of the singer.