NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIV, Issue XLIV, 8 March 1924, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The current season's work,is now in full swing, and the public f: may look forward with interest to many good performances.

4-u It Goddard' s first organ recital of the ISew Year was very successful He chose a somewhat ambitious programme, and one which actually demanded more scope of registration than he possessed in the instrument at his command. That he succeeded so well and secured such good effects is a tribute to his artistic taste. As alWariu!' hIS tec]lni( lU€> was very good. Ihe church choirs are very busy in their active preparation for the Passion week celebrations. "The Crucifixion is the work most usually performed at that time of the year, and &11 I?E^°J le by Pr^byterian and Methodist Choirs. The Anglican Choir are devoting their*"energies to "The Way of the Cross," a simpler but still a very good work. The secretary of the Operatic Society advises that it has been practically decided .to stage the opera Floradora" fbr the first concert of the year. Practice will be resumed at on£f v and th% work taken up in earnest, me Stratford Musical Society, who c-T ci c -xSO, su I cce.ssf «l last year, have not definitely decided on their next work t^u ai£- considering a choice between Ihe Merry Widow" or "Floradora." _At the annual meeting of the New Plymouth Male Choir a tribute was paid to the members for the good work done and the interest shown, which led to a series of excellent concerts during the season. It was considered the year had been the best in the history of the choir. A large addition had been made to the number of subscribing members.' The committee tendered sincere thanks to Miss Ethel Osborn, Mrs John Craig, A.T.C.L., Mrs T. E. Larking, Miss Gamman, Miss Gladys Gamman, Mrs A. George and her orchestra, Rev. O. Blundell, Mr N H Papakura, Mr R, Hume Fyfe, Mr Walter Fennell, L.A.8., Mr Harold Morey, Mr Geo. Dick, soloists from the choir, the Melody Four, and the members of the. orchestra for the valuable assistance rendered at the various cbnC6rts' mLTlie, season was a strenuous one. Ihe choir members, beside* paying a visit to Hawera to give a combined concert with the Hawera Choir gave concerts at Urenui, Lepperton',' Waitara, Inglewood, Okato, Rahotu and Opunake, which were greatly apl predated by country residents and were the means of materially * assisting the choir's finances. During the yea? the debit balance of £120 had been wiped off, so that the new year commenced with a clean sheet. The writer would like to pay a tribute to the good standard of work done by the choir. It was his privilege to attend the performance df "The Desert," and it was a genuine pleasure to him. Ihe work of conductor, orchestra, and chorus was very satisfactory.

It will be interesting to many who listened to the singing of Miss Acklancl some months ago in Hawera to read in the Sydney Morni/g Herald's report of a performance h§ the Welsh Choral Society of "The Messiah" a eu.og.v_ of Miss Ackland's solo work Jhe critic says: "Distinguished among the soloists for the combined authority and tenderness of her reading of the contralto music was Miss Elsie Ack- ?™-; H<V tyle never' transgressed the limits of her subject, and in 'Behold, II 1'? 1!' <He, Wa? »espise^. and the 1«* of her solos she reaped a bountiful harvest of applause. The highest Jw a am i £ even T in S »as reached' in He Shall Feed His Flock,' i followed ll CA?-n.Un^ ¥ im '' in which latter Miss Hughes worthily carried on the atmosphere the contralto had created."-

The Sistine Choir i s in New York playing an American concert tour under the direction of Frank Healv Miss Ethel Osborn, the' young Queensland soprano, who sang the solos m "The Messiah" with the Wellington Choral Union, has returned to Australia. Miss Osborn has important engagements to fill in the Common-

T, 1, 1? London correspondent of the Wellington Post reports that the third British Empire Music Festival will be held m London in June, when 16 gold medals will be awarded to British composers for the best work in each of the various forms. The objects of the festival are the - encouragement and recognition of British music and musicians and the establishment of an annual date when the nubile may hear original British works' interoreted by our own artists. The awards will be lor choral orchestral, chamber, or^an instrumental, and vocal compositions. Count Geaa Zichy, the celebrated one-a rm ed piano player, die d last month at Budapest, aged 74. Count /iiehy lost his right arm at the age of 14 in a hunting expedition, but pursued his musical studies with «»reat energy. Under such masters as Liszt ne became a virtuoso of extraordinary attainments. A lawyer by profession, and holding important positions, he still found time to undertake lon a concert tours for charitable purposes On several occasions he nlaved with Liszt in, ?Ef mg£ mei lt °4 the Rakoczy march foi thiee hands. He was president for some years of the Hungarian National Academy of Music. He also composed an opera, "Alar," and other works