ORCHESTRAL CONCERT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9587, 3 September 1913, Page 5

ORCHESTRAL CONCERT.

There was a very good attendance at th« Opera House la»t evening to hear tho second concert of the Orchestral Society's eighteenth reason, and a nicely varied programme of instrumental and vocal musio was pre.-ented. Following its excellent custom of iniroducing well-known arti.-ts from other cwntixe. the society made a. popular decision on this occasion in giving local mu«ic lovers another opportunity of hearing Mr Hamilton Hodges, and hi* contributions to the programme were undoubtedly the feature of the evening-. The veteran baritone's fine organ is splendidly preserved, but apart from so g*vn| a voice tho .indium) before which Mr Hot! go appeirs always finds pleasure in the splendid ani>try of his work. evening s numbers nine in all. covered almost every class of song; tbey were rendered in three languages, ami v.ere a splendid test of all tlie equipment that a successful concert singer should possess. In the lirs; part of th« programme were three bracketed numbers. "L'Oiseau S Knvole la bas. la l»as" (Masse). "Bluthen, bluthe:a übernll" ;Von Kielitz). at.d "Le Voyageur"' (Godardj. and -Mr Hodges' genius wa* amply tested. He was loudly ontored. and rcfjtotidid with one of his (harming litlio recall items. "If 1 were You" (Wells*. In the second part he completely captured tho audience with throe Roumanian songs o£ Hermann Lohr. and being recalled gave, l*y request, the intensely dramatic "Manait" a brilliant performance which fairly made his auditors shiver. Again he was re-called, and notwithstanding the heavy tax on hi* powers, the singer good-naturedly added to his iong list of successes with still a Hot her charming item. "What .Shall I Sing* You."' The lady vocalist of the evening was Miss Barsby. of Taihape, a one-time resident of Dannevirke. the possessor of a sweet soprano voice, wide in range and of unutual quality. Her most jtopular number was "Nymplmet Sylvan*"' (H. Romberg), for her tuneful rendering of which --he was recalled. Miss Barsby's oilier item. "L'Eco" (Eckert), was a!f-o excellently rendered sad earned a recall: in response the audience were treated to one of Liza I/dimann's bird songs, "The Wood Pigeon." The orchestra, under the baton of Mr A. .!. Graham, gave six selections, and. as usual, tltoo were made to l»e representative of different school* t.f music. The most jiopular item undoubtedly was tho Tt>ohni!:owiky "Nocturne." with which w«s bracketed a "Yalse" by the same Here the orchestra found .1 congenial atmosphere. and the very beautiful and somewhat difficult number was acceptably interpreted. Three dances from "Nell Gwyn" (German) provided in their lighter moods an entirely different problem, and tho orchestra's presentation w.ss decidedly pleasing. In tire overture an exacting task wa« so?, th<» number l>eing "I)i IJallo" (Sullivan), in which the orchestra assisted by two pianists (Misses (Ihii-wkl and llodder). A Gipsy march of ('. Godard; one of (lie splendid of Strauss, and two dainty bracketed numbers (an ancient dance of Gabriel-Marie and a minuet of Boocherini) completed the programme. Tli- orchestra were deridedlr unfoWunate in losing the services of their capable leader, Mr Phil Larcomb. who was confined to hi< Ite-d with illness, and Mr H. K. Swallow was called upon t<> fill a difficult position at a moment's notice. Miss Vera Graham acted as accompanist in an acceptable manner.