THE DON COSSACKS

Evening Star, Issue 19298, 10 July 1926, Page 2

THE DON COSSACKS

ANOTHER FIHE PROGRAMME Tho audience at His Majesty's Theatre last night, though not so large as it might have been, was warmly enthusiastic in its appreciation of the masterly singing of the Don Cossack Choir. When the thirty-six men walk on to the bare stage their y sombre, even stolid, appearance marks them as grim fighting men rather than temperamental singers, but it is not long before the listener realises the fine qualities which go to make for wonderful melodious cohesion. Their songs are all really tone pictures, vivid in their coloring and presentation, and singularly expressive. This reduces, almost eliminates, not only the handicap which is always imposed upon the average concert patron by tlio rendering of songs in a foreign language, hut also the further handicap which the management imposes by failing to arrange for some means of announcing at least the titles of the extra numbers. Indeed, the pleasure of listening to the programme numbers themselves might bo enhanced by an announcement concerning their history rather than merely printing the words in the programme. However, the latter method is, of course, better than nothing at all. Last night’s offering was divided into three parts. Tlio first, composed of four religious songs, was productive of some glorious organ effects in (1) Tschaikowsky’s ‘ At Church ’ and (2) Llwovsky’s ‘Evening Prayer.’ The flute-like notes of the tenors and the rolling, reverberating tones of the basses were absolutely realistic in creating a positive cathedral atmosphere. The other numbers— 1 Almighty God, We Praise Thee ’ and 1 How Greatly Our God is Glorified 1 (both Bortnjanijky’s), wore also splendidly sung. The second section comprised four secular songs. ‘ The Red Sarafan ’ was a soft, crooning melody, and the story, which related to youth and the wearing of the sarafan—the national costume of the .Russian peasant,—was beautifully expressed. ‘The Hop Vino Across the River’ was a folk song which began brightly, worked up to a tumultuous tempo, and then faded away into a crooning echo. ‘ The Evening Bells ’ was another haunting thing, in which a prayer-like refrain snug by one of the tenors was the feature. ‘ The Signal March of the Cavalry ’ was a short, quick, descriptive piece in sis “ signals ” —the gathering, the campaign, the general march, dispersing, the charge, and the attack. The lightning changes were handled in masterly fashion.

The third and last section contained four secular songs. The first was a, quaint thing by Dawidovsky, entitled ‘ The Hoop Burst. ’: the second a robust rhythmical Volga boatmen’s song called ‘Ai Onkhniam ’; the third a beautiful, plaintive Russian folk melody entitled ‘ Monotonously Rings the Little Bell,’ and the fourth a Cossack song of 1312 in praise of Platov, the hero. An interpolated item in the form of a rollicking Cossack dance by two members of the company proved highly popular. To-night another change of programme will he, submitted.