WORLD OF MUSIC

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 4 August 1928, Page 8

WORLD OF MUSIC

A POPULAR SINGER It will be generally admitted .that few singers who have resided in South Taranaki have given more liberally of their time auid of their talents than Mrs M. J. Goodsou, who with her family will Jieavte shortly for WJeliiugton. It is good to see that the musical societies have decided, to recognise her worth and her liberal help to any good musical effort and' also to any deserving cause by according an united send off after her final appearance'. OROHiESTRAiL SOCIETY.

A distinct musical feature of the year will be the Orchestral Society’s Concert to be held on Monday. The numbers of the society luive been increased ; anti now total sixty. The programme will; be of unusual interest, Comprising as it does th© following : Overture, “Orpheus in the Under World” (Offenbach) j ballet music (Gounod’s Faust) ; Pizzicato- for strings only from Delibes’ Ballet; Characteristics number, ‘Bells of Ouselley” ; Suites from “The Four Winds— Boreas, Sirocco, Erirus, Trinkaus) and Punch and Judy Ballet (Norman O’Neill). For encores, the orchestra Will inavc several other numbers, prepared, including, “The Kiltie’s Courtship” and “The Darkle’s Dream,” both descriptive pieces. Mrs M. J. Goodson will sing -two songs, one with specially arranged full orchestral accompaniment by Mr Fox. Mr W. 11. Christie, a popular singer from Wanganui will be the other assisting artist. A-children’s orchestra of fifty, from the High) School and the Main Public School, are practising hard under Mr Fox with' a view' to giving a concert at an early date. Their programme will include two overtures and a selection from “Maritana.”

THE COMPETITIONS. The executive of the Competitions Society must be more than gratified, a*, the receipt olf entries last week which has 1 .resulted in a number far in excess of anything in the history of the comkpetflbions' in Haw-era. The total 650 is a remarkable testimony to the growth and the popularity of the competitions and means that very widespread preparation is being made by contestants all over the province and in other centres. It means too a lot of persevering and painstaking effort by the perfoimers m every section of artistic work. The society cannot get the Opera House for a longer time than they have arranged. The work to be done may possibly necessitate another hall being used for part of the time. The possibility is iin itself a. tribute to the growth of the society. It is of special .interest, to look back and to recall on what small beginnings the present superstructure lias been built.

NOTES. Wanganui competitions will be held on the week commencing August 27. When considering the dates, the committee made an alteration so. 1 as to avoid clashing with Hawera. Tihe last performance of “La Mascotte” in Taranaki prior to the production this week by the Eltham Amateur Oiperatio Society was in 1904 when the New* Plymouth Society presented this popular opera. Mi J. D. Stoyle was the producer. It is much to he regretted that the New Plymouth Male Clboir has gone out of existence. After its birth sand useful work in the troublous days of the war —it w'ftis : founded in 1917 —it is remarkable that iin times when one would expect it to flourish it should come to an end. . .Dealing with music from the view point of the listener. Miss OorflisSy well known as a lecturer in Wellington, explained the modern educationalists and musician’s attitude towards what she termed “the listener’s, art.’’- Much more importance, she said, -wots attached to this form of training to-day than ever before. It was not considered necessary to bo actively engaged in the producing of music either as a composer or as a performer in order to appreciate music a® a> language. Nowadays, aural appreciation was (considered a necessary factor in the general culture of the individual. Just as there was training in the appreciation of literature, painting, architecture, etc.,, so there twas a general movement towards the conception of listening to music bcin" an art in itself. Those who, by study, acquired the knowledge and aural alertness necessary for true appreciation become “'artists in listenij)(T 9 9 * About 300 peoole are concerned in the presentation of the grand operas writes a- Sydney corresipon<3eni>, and if Sydney spends money to see the production, the visitors spend money to see Sydney. Tt costs about £BSOO a week to serve a dish of opera, and of this £2500 goes in salaries' to the principals and- the conductors; the share of the chorus is £6OO.

ON THE GBIAMAIPHONE. Schubert’s MasterpiecJ&. t . ‘‘Syrrupilioiiy in. B Minor’’ (Unfinisin* ed) —Schubert. Sir Henry Wood conducting the New Queen’is Hall Orchestra. The loveliest and most famous or all the works of Franz Schubert, the “Unfinished Symphony,”- may well be ranked as the most popular orchestral work ever written. Its abundance of flowing -song-like themes of delicious melody, the appealing air of wistful sadness that pervades the whole work, win it nu instant place in the heart of the average listener, delight him in the orchestration and the structure. Sit' Henry Wood; produces his finest records to daite in giving us the two movements that comprise what we know of the Symphony. His basses are- rich and vibrating', 'and between these and the staccato of the strings lie runs the full gamut of orchestral -colours, keeping its texture beautifully varied, its tempo imipec'cialble and its tone a surpassing

j o v. William Murdoch. “.Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 (Liszt). Pianoforte Solo by Willia/m Murdoch. Few composers, past or present, have obtained -such remarkable effects from the piano as Liszt. Among the wealth of music be wrote with sucih understanding none are more effective than the series pf Hungarian Rhapsodies, s the twelfth of which w played with such brilliance and a nice sense of andavidual'ity Ihere by William Murdoch. It is a piano gem of lustre and rich beauty. Caspar Oa-ssado. * (!) “Apres Un Reve” (Haute) ; (2) “Evening Song” (Schumann). Cello Solos by Caspar Cass ado. These records introduce the greatest of all the younger school of ’cellists, Caspar Oaissado, wh o has been win ming laurels all over Europe and America. He possesses an aemniplished technique but- it is Ms incl.ividml ity of intorprotivtimi, allied willi Ivif* lovely tono and artistic phrasing, that have, given him pro-eminence. Beautifully smooth ancl flowing is Sdhumann’s “Evening Song,” while in “Apres un reve” is obtained a wonderful feeling of mysterious beauty.