MR TRIMNELL’S ORGAN RECITAL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 999, 24 April 1891, Page 36

MR TRIMNELL’S ORGAN RECITAL.

The organ recital given last night week by Mr Tallis Trimnell, Mus. Bac., in St Peter’s Church, attracted, as might have been expected, a very large and appreciative audience. Hitherto while Mr Trimnell’s great skill as an interpreter of organ music has been well known to the congregation of St Peter’s Church through the medium of the st orfe recitals given after the Sunday evening services during the winter months, he has never been heard by the Wellington public in general. His first public recital was consequently looked forward to with keen anticipation as a musical event, and it will not soon be forgotten by those who were so fortunate as to be present. The programme was well chosen and sufficiently vatied in character. It is almost needless to say that it was most admirably interpreted by Mr Trimnell. Perhaps his most striking effect was produced in that celebrated fantasia in E minor of Lemmen’s, commonly known as the “ Ktorm Fantasia” from the fact of its containing a very fine and realistic representation of a tempest. The idea of the composer was evidently the sime that inspired Beethoven in his immortal Pastoral Symphony—namely, that cf a peaceful rural landscape”, whose placid serenity is gradually dispelled by the approach of a storm which rages furiously, but ultimately passes away, and is followed by a song of thanksgiving. The rolls of distant thunder, the fitful sighing and wailing of the rising wind, and the slow falling of the first drops of rain, were most vividly depicted in the music, and prepared the ear for the appalling tumult of sound which was to follow when the tempest reached its culminating point of fury—when the gale roared, the thunder bellowed and _th > hail crashed down, the marvellous music 1 picture, brought out so forcibly by Mr Trimnell’s splendid playing, producing a deeply solemn and even awe-inspiring effect ; while the repose of the subsequent thanksgiving hymn formed a telling contrast. Another remarkable tour de force on Mr Trimneli’s part was his masterly playing of the exceedingly difficult arrangement for organs r-f Weber’s brilliant “Jubilee” overture. A third notable achievement was hi 3 superb execution of Sir Robert Stewart’s Fantasia in D-minor, one of the finest works of the renowned Dublin professor. Mr Trimnell’s other solos were Guilmant’s Nuptial March (in which the French cornpoaer so ingeniously treats two attractive subjects, first separately and then in conjunction) ; Batiste’s melodious andante in G-major, with its dainty chromatic variations, and the well-known Barcarole from the' late Sir W. S, Bennett’s pianoforte concerto in F-minor. All were magnificently played. The vocal numbers were generally interesting, and all were creditably presented. One special feature was a fine anthem, “ r lhe Earth is the Lord’s,” composed by Mr Trimnell. It comprises an introductory choral recitative in D-major for male voices; a semi - chorus for alto, tenor, and bass; a stirring full choru3 in B-minor; a flowing air in G-major for soprano ; a short recitative for bass, and an impressive final chorus (fugato) in D. The anthem was fairly well sung by the choir. The solo 3 were pleasingly given by Miss Dixon and Mr R. P. Johnson. Mr E. J. Hill repeated an old and familiar success in the tenor song from Sir John Stainer’s “Daughter of Jairus.” An exquisite and too little known aria from Spohr’s great oratorio “The Fall of Babylon” ("No'longer shall Judea’s children wonder ”) was charmingly sung by Miss Stanford, who also was associated with Mr G. H. Munt in the beautiful duet (“ In his hand ”) for two soprano voices, from Mendelssohn’s 95th Psalm. Both singers acquitted themselves well, but the tenor was at a serious disadvantage in being called on to sing a part written for a soprano, while it separated the parts too

widely, converting the composer's thirds into tenths, and similarly altering all the harmonies. The pathetic contralto air ‘ afflicted,” from Sir Julius Benedicts bt. Peter,’’ was very expressively sung by Mrs O. D. Mackintosh. The programme concluded with a new and pretty setting by Mr lilleard, an English organist, of the evening hymn “ Through the day Thy love hath spared us, and the Benediction was then pronounced by the Rev W. C. Waters, followed ty Sir John Stainers delightful “Sevenfold Amen.’ A collection was made in aid of the choir fund, and amounted to Ll 7 2s 7d.