TOWSEY-MITCHELL RECITALS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17297, 22 October 1919, Page 7

TOWSEY-MITCHELL RECITALS.

The third of the present- series of musical recitals by Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Towsey and M£s Winifred Mitchell was given in the Town Hall concert chamber last night, before a highly appreciative audience. The programme submitted served to intensify the favourable impressions made by the two previous recitals. I-.i one instance, at least, that of the Cesar Franck colossal Sonata in A for piano and violin, the exponents. Mr. Cyril Towsey and Miss Winifred Mitchell, displayed a versatility and grasp of the underlying beauties of this complex work which frankly surpassed their previous standards. Each of the four movements wis charged with fresh interest, the enthusiasm of the listeners running highest in the "Allegro" and the concluding "Allegretto puco niosso.'' The performers were twice recalled at the close of the work. Mrs. Cyril Towsey, who was in excellent voice, was heard in the initial stages of the programme in a brace of French songs, these being "Elegie" (Massenet) and "Le Nil" (I.eroux). It was-un-fortunate that the artistic effect of these numbers was marred by the strains produced by a coterie of instrumentalists outside, the h^ll.

Mrs. To\v?ey showed a fitting sense of treatment in the d fferent items of the M>ii'.r cycle, "Fair Jessie" (Fielitz). ,-tiid later was heard in lYrgolesi's Tre vduj'ni son cho Nina," a song belonging to tho transition period of music. Schubert's expressive " I'm Music-." Schumann's

"Humility," John Ireland's "Spring Sorrow ''—-a modern work with much strength of harmony and pleasant melody, and Mauidian Harnett's interesting songs, "A Lullaby" and "The Boatie."

Miss Winifred Mitchell, in her violin solo,-, "Meditation " (Massenet) anil " Moment Musical " (Simonetti), displayed clarity of tone and expressive phrasing. Mr. Cyril Towsey, in addition to his other arduous duties at the piano, concluded the recital by playing three solos. The first of these. Schumann's "Novelle.tte in F," with its martial rhythms heard in sharp contrast to the more subdued canlabile portions, lacked a little in impulse in the quieter part* mentioned. Godard's " Venitienne " was, in its way, highly persuasive, while the concluding ('hopin Study Op. 25. No. 5. was a line effort.