CELEBRITY CONCERT

Evening Star, Issue 22718, 4 August 1937, Page 7

CELEBRITY CONCERT

ESSIE AHUM'S TRIUMPH NOTABLE EFFORT FOR CUHTT By virtue of her expert mastery of all the moods demanded by the songs she sang and her unaffected, simple personality Essie Ackland registered a complete triumph in the Town Hall last night. The 2,000 patrons of the celebrity concert provided by the National Broadcasting Service paid genuine! tribute to her artistry, recognising in the vocalist hex-self an indefinable quality that is only suggested in her many recordings. Most of those selected to support the star of the performance wore well able to sustain the character of the programme, which must be regarded as one of the most artistic arrangements of its kind given to the public by the broadcasting authorities.

In her only offering in the first part of the programme Miss Ackland was assisted by the augmented 4YA Concert Orchestra and the Royal Dunedin Male Choir, both of which were under the conductorship of Mr Alfred Walmsley. A fine expression of her skill was given bv the soloist in Brahms’s ‘Alto Rhapsody,’ although at times the orchestra and choir were a little too enthusiastic, over emphasising their secondary parts. Miss Ackland’s voice, however, generally rose to the occasion to claim supremacy in_ tho general effect. Later in the evening she charmingly caught the foreign atmosphere of two songs of Egypt by Grarivillo Bantock, ‘ The Unutterable ’ and ‘ Invocation of the Nile.’ These, of course, were of a more slender nature than her opening number, appealing more to the popular taste. When an encore was indicated she announced that she had received many requests, but could not comply with them all. She then further demonstrated her versatility by a very simple interpretation of the _ old English melody, ‘ Over the Mountains ’ (arranged by Roger Quilter), this earning for her a second encore. This time she adopted, the impressive mood dictated by ‘ There is No Death ’ (O’Hara). Still the audience was unsatisfied, so she obliged with the prayerful ‘ Bless This House ’ (Brahe) and tho stimulating ‘ Hail, Caledonia ’ (Stroude). The second vocalist on the programme was Reginald Morphew, the possessor of, a strong baritone voice which was heard in a particularly descriptive version of the famous ‘ Largo al_ Factotum,’ from ‘ The Barber of Seville,’ by Rossini. The orchestral accompaniment. although at times on the heavy side, tended to create a better operatic effect than a piano alone ’ could have done. Mr Morphew could be brought back only once, his encore being 4 Yeoman of England ’ (German). Lionello Cecil (operatic tenor) was the third singer, and he could be persuaded to sing only two numbers. The first was ‘ O Paradise,’ from Meyerbeer’s ‘ L’Africaine,’ and the other tho bet-ter-known ‘ Pagliacci ’ excerpt, ‘On With the Motley,’ by Leoncavallo. Both were rendered with a good deal of feeling, while the former benefited by an orchestral background. A measure of strength v;as added to the programme by local artists. - Koa Nees, whose work at the piano has frequently ■ been recognised previously, gave accomplished performances _of three Chopin etudes, the technical hurdles of which, were creditably surmounted. . Mr Rees M'Conachy (violinist) was perhaps a little overtaxed by ‘ La Gatana. ’ (Kreisler) and ‘ Dance of the Goblins’ (Bazzini), although mastering the technicalities of these pieces creditably. He was more at home in his encore, ‘Andantino ’ (Martini-Kreis-ler). His second group of items was more happy, the series including ‘ Slavonic Dance ’ (Dvorak-Kreisler), ‘Serenade ’ (Chaminade - Kreisler), and ‘ Flight of the Bumble Bee ’ (RimskyKorsakov), with ‘ Spring Song ’ (Athol Barnes) as an encore. The orchestra of 33 members, under the direction of Mr James Dixon, was particularly pleasing in its contributions. AH sections remained strong throughout, and surprisingly good renditions of Thomas’s ‘ Raymond ’ overture, the lighter pieeeSj ‘ Praeludium’ (Jarnfeldt) and, ‘ Valse des Alouettes ’ (Drigo), and the ‘ Coronation March ’ from ‘Prophete ’ (Meyerbeer) called for applause. _ The accompanists were Mr Leo Whittaker, who played for'Miss Ackland and Mr Morphew, and Mrs Clarice Drake. Just before the close of the evening the mayor (the Rev. E. T. Cox) thanked tho artists for their work, the National Broadcasting Service for its arrangement of the concert, the proceeds from which were in aid of the relief of distress fund, and the patrons for their support. Both the performers and the service were deserving of high praise for their efforts on behalf of a worthy, object.