SIR FREDERICK COWEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21467, 15 April 1933, Page 8 (Supplement)

SIR FREDERICK COWEN

CONCERT OF COMPOSITIONS A programme devoted to the works of Sir Frederick Cowen is being arranged by Mr. Walter Impett for presentation in the Lewis Eady Hall on April 27. The programme was selected in personal consultation with Sir Frederick Cowen during Mr. Impett's last visit to England, and it will bo of great interest as representative of one of the last two surviving links with the music of the Victorian era, his companion being Sir A. C. Mackenzie. Apart from his notable gift of composition, Cowen was in tho first rank of conductors. Ho conducted a series of concerts, well leavened with his own compositions, which aroused absolute enthusiasm in the musical world of Australia; and it is interesting to note that several members of his orchestra were New Zealand musicians. This series of concerts gave a needed stimulus to Australian music, which owes its present high standard largely to tho revelation made by Cowen. Throughout his long life ho has been true to his ideals and a strict observer of the canons. Ho has written for tho simple and bo has composed for tho musically erudite, but never has he knowingly played to tho gallery. Both as conductor and composer ho has been a potent inilueiico in tho musical world, and, at that, an '■invariably sane and beneficent influence.