THOUGHTS ABOUT MUSIC

Evening Star, Issue 23499, 13 February 1940, Page 3

THOUGHTS ABOUT MUSIC

[By L.D.A.] Music gives tone to the universe; wings to the mind; flight to the imagination; a charm to sadness; gaiety and life to everything. —Plato. Two very interesting letters came to hand by the last English mail. Ihe first was from Sir Henry Wood, who says;—■ “Delighted to receive yours of October 30, also your ‘ Star ’ article, which gave me much pleasure. Yes, you were right in your surmise iny ‘ Proms.’ closed down on September 3, after a season of only three weeks. Everyone is of opinion that this was a grave error. All that need have been ordered was an alteration in the hour of beginning the performances; if it had been changed to 6 p.m. I_ am convinced that the scheduled eight weeks’ season would have gone through as planned. It was a bad blow to the many concert artists who were booked for the season, because, for a considerable time after this there was an absolute slump in music—in fact, no concerts were given anywhere until October 14, when I gave my services to the London Symphony Orchestra for an afternoon concert, and conducted it to a packed house.’’

“ Of course,” continues Sir Henry, “ the entire receipts went to the members of the orchestra, and since then I have directed 17 concerts on similar lines in Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, and other centres besides London, also many Sunday afternoon concerts in suburban halls for the benefit of orchestral musicians, who arc really in a very bad way over here. In fact, if an orchestral player can secure one engagement per week ho is fortunate under the circumstances. The only exceptions are the members of the 8.8. C. orchestra, who are safely tucked away in their secret hiding place somewhere in Western England; they only broadcast an hour or two every week and still receive their normal salaries — lucky devils 1 ”

“ Personally,” the letter goes on, “ I am feeling very fatigued, and my doctor, Lord Horder, has forbidden me to work again until January 20. This gives me about six weeks complete rest, and I need it, for travelling around the country under black-out conditions has played havoc with my nerves. But I possess a real treasure in my wife, w'ho has looked after my welfare and business matters in the most wonderful and efficient way, so things might jiave been a great deal worse. We are hoping for a better time in the near future, and send our united good wishes to yourself for the coming year.—Sincerely yours, Henry J. Wood.”

The first thing that struck me after reading the above letter, was the comparatively strange fact that it had passed the censor without a single deletion. When we consider the reported wholesale mutilations of letters leaving New Zealand the contrast is certainly extraordinary. Readers will, I am sure, join with me in the hope that Sir Henry’s indisposition is only temporary. Knowing him as I do. I can well understand that he must have chafed under medical directions —even though, if I may say so, it was exactly what the doctor Hordered !

His letter was dated December 6, having thus taken two months to reach me, during which time there is evidence that musical activities in England have very largely revived.

My other letter was from the brilliant young New Zealand pianist, Colin Horsley. Under the same date, December 6, he writes; “ Please excuse this scribble. It is a very cold, foggy, and frosty day, and I am sitting as close to the fire as I can get, with the pad upon my knee. So my news may be rather disjointed! You will be interested to learn that last night I listened _ to Eileen Joyco broadcasting, and her item was Chopin’s ‘ Allegro de Concert,’ most wonderfully played. She has evidently taken your advice to learn it, and now perhaps we can hope she will make a recording of it —the first pianist to do so. “ Mv own recent activities include playing Beethoven’s C minor concerto with the R.C.M. orchestra, and I shall soon play the Brahms-Paganini variations as a solo, I hope. Our college term has just concluded, and we have a month’s vacation.

“ London is full of concerts just now. A few days ago I heard Louis Kenther in Liszt’s ‘ E Flat Concerto.’ at one of the many functions arranged by _ Myra Hess in aid of distressed musicians. Things have been %’ery bad, but are improving. Kenther is a fine pianist, but the 70-year-old Frederic Lamond can still hold his own with the younger fry. I heard him in a splendidly-played Beethoven programme including several of the later sonatas, which, I tell you quite frankly, I do not like at all. and cannot understand why the big pianists waste so much time over them. I have an idea that you agree with me in this. But I was enthralled with Lamond’s playing of Liszt’s sonata—a truly magnificent work when performed in the grand manner. Of course, Lamond was a pupil of Liszt; evidently he has not forgotten his great master. “ Allan Loveday, the boy violinist from New Zealand, is living with Albert Sammons, who, I believe, is giving him three or four lessons a week. He ought to become a real virtuoso in such fortunate conditions. “ This black-out business is a nuisance, but wo are gradually getting used to it. Our house is not sandbagged, though most others in the neighbourhood are. We may be taking a risk, but the danger so far does not seem intimidating. I think the suburbs of London are as safe as anywhere. The weather is dreadful, and looks like getting worse. I wonder if New Zealand people realise how lucky they are to be out of all this “ Kindest regards from Colin.” That is certainly a welcome piece of news about Eileen Joyce. When she was in this country I asked her to play Chopin’s ‘ Allegro de Concert ’ in one of her programmes, and she replied that she had never even heard of it. So I went straight to the nearest music shop and bought a copy of this fine work, also one of Liszt’s rarely-played ‘ Polonaise in E.’ They are both fiendishly difficult and only negotiable hv executants of the master class. Miss Joyce was graciously pleased to accept them from me, and promised she would put them into practice forthwith. That promise is now hearing fruit, seemingly, and no doubt will take ultimate shape in additions to the gramophone repertoire of this truly superb artist, • ♦ ♦ ♦ Young Horsley’s own progress in his studies may bo appreciated from his re-

marks. Any pianist, young or old, capable of tackling Brahmses ‘ Variations on a Theme by Paganini ’ must be “ some ” performer, let me tell you. Even the greatest players ore often over-weighted by this formidable woik, which I have heard under the hands of Egon Petri, Backhaus, Moseiwitseh, Paderewski, and others; but nobody so far has, in my hearing, ever equalled the performance of it by Moriz Rosenthal in his prime. He cannot do it now, poor man, at the age of 77, though he still makes a courageous shot at it. But 40 years ago he was a giant performer, a technical miracle. To-day, perhaps, only Simon Barer possesses comparable powers of strength, speed, and endurance at the These 1 Variations ’ demand the qualities of a musical athlete, and I firmly believe Colin Horsley will develop them.

Talking of pianists reminds mo that Paul Schramm will shortly start cn another New Zealand tour with throe entirely new programmes. His repertoire this time contains some extremely attractive pieces which are seldom or never played in this country, even over the radio. It is simply extraordinary how pianists as a class stick to the same old groove and repeat themselves ad nauseam. There is no excuse for this when we remember that more than 3,000 works of artistic standard have been written and published for pianoforte solo. I will mention only a few of the outstanding novelties in Mr Schramm’s schedule, just to show music-lovers what to expect:—Bach’s ‘Chaconne’ (arranged by Busoni). Mendelssohn’s ‘ Rondo Capriccioso,’ 1 Serenata ’ (Albcniz), ‘ R.igaudon ’ (Ravel), ‘Tambourin’ (Rameau), ‘The Cuckoo ’ (Daguin). ‘Sonata. No. 2 ’ (Beethovenl, ‘La Fileuse ’ (Raff), ‘ St. Francis Walking on the Water ’ (Liszt), ‘ Phantasy ’ (Mozart), ‘ Carnival ’ (Schumann), ‘La Sonice ’ (Leschctizky), and last, hut by no means least, the ‘ Polonaise in E ’ (Liszt), to which allusion has been made.

This, enrely, with many other items, makes a feast that should satisfy oven a concert-Goering! And that’s enough for to-day.