CLAVIER CLUB

Evening Star, Issue 23092, 19 October 1938, Page 9

CLAVIER CLUB

THIRD PIANOFORTE RECITAL AN ARRESTING PROGRAMME Eleven members of the Clavier Club were associated in a decidedly interesting concert in Begg’s last evening. This was their third public presentation, and the big attendance immediately proved that the club has a widening circle of discriminating followers. The preparation for the concert and the actual performances must have given a great deal of pleasure to all these pianists, and the audience heard a challenging programme with keen and obvious interest. The technical and interpretative standards of the artists showed a remarkable evenness, and all of them succeeded in giving their music a vital appeal. In the first part of the programme there was an arresting grouping of compositions of the classical and earlier romantic school, introduced with a Scarlatti work arranged for two pianos by Felix Swinstead and played by Miss Mary Frazer and Miss Doris Ramsay. Mr Oswald Pringle gave tho Bach prelude and fugue in 13 fiat minor, and Miss Winifred Gardner handled the massive Bach-Busoni chaconne in D minor with particular authority. The second group was ushered in with Mr Alan Meldrum’s performance of the Haydn sonata in D major; and then Miss Yetti Bell and Miss Mary Allan played tho arrangement by Debussy for two pianos of tho, four studies in canon form by Schumann. Mr Frank Cawley selected tho Beethoven sonata in E fiat, and Miss Thelma Gommell

the Chopin impromptu in F sharp major. The modern works held a provocative interest. Miss Eunice Steadman’s vivid group consisted of ‘ Will o’ the Wisp,’ from Edgar Bainton’s ‘ Faery ’ suite, Prokofieff’s ‘ Gavotta,’ and the Korngokl ‘ Rubezahl ’ (‘ Ruler of the Sprites’). Miss Frazer reappeared to play Pitfield’s prelude and andante pensivo, Leo Livens’s ‘ Hobby Horse,’ the Arnold Bax ‘ Hill Tune,’ and ‘ Amberley Wild Brooks,’ by John Ireland. Concluding the concert was the ‘ Rhythmic Dance ’ of Eugene Goossens, played by Miss Mavis Macdonald and Mr Pringle. Altogether it was a stimulating evening, and ono that held a distinctive value for an audience which appreciated a fine exposition of the beauties of unfamiliar music.