ROYAL MALE CHOIR

Evening Star, Issue 21822, 11 September 1934, Page 5

ROYAL MALE CHOIR

FIRST CONCERT OF SEASON PERFORMANCE BELOW STANDARD IN PARTS No other musical society in the city has won such an army of subscribers to show a practical interest in its activities as the Royal Dunedin Male Choir, and again there was an audience of well over 2,000 to hear the concert in the Town Hall last evening. It was a performance that was very good m some respects—and very bad in others. Like that little girl of nursery fame with the little curl down the middle of her forehead, the choir_ went to extremes in its vocal behaviour. , In some of the part songs t there was some really charming singing, but this admirable standard was not sustained. The weaknesses originated principally from the tenor section, in which there were marked deficiencies. The sins, however, were of commission rather than omission, for there were several tenor voices upsetting the balance_ and obscuring the pitch of the singing. Apart from these lapses the choir was in excellent form, and gave the audience ap attractive evening. The choral programme commenced with Mr J. G. Easton’s fine ‘ Song to David.’ The choir opened less confidently than usual, but soon steadied, and, in the restrained middle passage, sang with delicate colouring and rich blend. The voices lost a little towards the climax, but it was nevertheless i n artistic representation of Mr Easton's music. The Dunhill arrangement of the Stevens melody ‘ Sigh No More, Ladies ’ was clearly the best effort of the evening. This was sung unaccomand Dr Galway moulded the part singing very beautifully indeed. The balance was excellent, and the measure of the music finely sustained throughout in an admirably judged performance. ‘ The Cloud-capp’d Towers, a glee by the same composer, arranged by Hugh Robertson, was at once notable for the sonority of the bass voices, and the great swell of tone produced. 1 Bobby Snaftoe,* a request, was again immensely popular, and was naturally encored. Its spirit and lilting rhythm have not dimmed in their appeal for hundreds of years. The two major choral works that followed were probably the least attractive of all. The first was the Neumann part song. * The Rising Storm.’ It was given a striking development in its opening stages, but thereafter rather failed, chiefly because of the harshness of the tenors, which seemed to be unhappily contagious. Smart’s ‘ Queen of the Night ’ was also unpleasantly affected by distinct loss of pitch. There was not sufficient tonal clarity in it to give the work the necessary colour and point. The old English melody, ‘ Caleno Custnre Me ’ (arranged Taylor Harris) featured a delightfully sung solo by Mr C. S. Hawes, the choir creating quite an effective background. The last choral item was Aylward’s spirited and melodious ‘ Song of the Bow.’ A recital of Miss Elvira Wycherley’s attainments would not serve any useful purpose, as all concert-goers are, happily, keenly aware of them. Suffice it to say that this accomplished young ’cellist played as charmingly as ever, particularly in her second group. She onened with the andante from the Haydn ‘ Concerto in C Major,’ Hugh Becker’s ‘ Minuetto,’ and the Schumann ‘ Traumerei.* Her latter group was made up of the Rabel 1 Habanera ’ Cthe fascinating colour and rhythm of which Miss Wycherley made much), and the deft ‘ Arlequin ’ by Popper. Miss Alison Tyrie, a contralto who has developed extremely well in the last year or so, also enriched the concert programme with several highly cultured rerformances. Miss Tyrie first sang the 0 Love I From Thy Power ’ aria from Saint-Saens’ ‘Samson and Delilah,’ following this up with a finely-conceived interpretation of the Schubert ‘ Wonder.’ Her first encore song here, the imperishable ‘ We’d Better Bide a Wee ’ (Claribel) was exquisitely sung, and Miss Tyrie was insistently called back to give Bohm’s ‘ Still as the Night.’ The soloists from the choir were Mr W. E. Mills, a tenor of very pleasant quality and free production, who sang Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘ Thou Art Risen, My Belbved,’ and Frederick Knight Logan’s ‘ Pale Moon ’; and Mr Edward Bond, a bass whose full voice has not been heard for a considerable time. Mr Bond sang Elliott’s song. ‘ Hybrias the Cretan ’ and Sir Edward German’s ‘ Rolling Down to Rio.’ In Mr Colin Oliver the choir has found an admirable accompanist.