MISS KATHLEEN CRUICKSHANK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19199, 16 June 1924, Page 10

MISS KATHLEEN CRUICKSHANK

HLIi SECOND RECITAL. VERY GRATIFYING RECEPTION. (From On« Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 6. Last autumn Miss Kathleen Cruickshank chose to make her London debut in the semi-privacy of the salon at Leighton House, Kensington. She then made a distinct “hit,” and received eveiy encouragement from her instructors and her audience to do something on a.more ambitious scale. The result was a recital at the yEolian Hall. New Bond street, on Wednesday evening Miss Cruickshank, who is the daughter of Mr and Mrs W. 11. Cruickshank (Wellington and Maslerton), has been in EPoland studying for several years with Mr Frederick King {the doyen professor at the Royal Academy of Music), and, with Monsieur Mischa Leon, who is so well known on the concert platform, she has been studying interpretation. She is not the possessor of a large voice, but what Nature has denied her in volume she has more than compensated tor in other ways. This young singer has that indefinable something which must be inborn, for not even the best teacher has the power to impart what is not there primarily as Nature’s gift. A very pretty voice of mezzo-soprano quality, it has the colouring for the different emotions, while the diction is unusually good, whether the language is English, French, German, or the patois of the Basque Country. All who hear her must be convinced of her intelligence as a pupil, and must appreciate the fact that she has worked steadily and well since she came to London. Tier attractive personality and charming appearance are referred to by all the London critics, and one who happened to ‘ o near me likened her to a piece of dainty Dresden ohina. The singer wore a crinoline —indeed, there were two different crinolines—turquoise silk and silver lace alternating tiov upon tier, composed the dress worn for the first half of the programme, while a very beautiful black taffetas die! duty' for the second half. This latter dress was gracefully festooned over an underdress of gold veiled with black laco, the drapery being held by Victorian posies of roses and forget-me-nots. The programme selected was one of dainty cnarm, and it was evident that Miss Cruickshank was perfectly at ease with all ■the items which composed it. There were some beautiful old English songs, seldom heard, to Hart with —“My Lovely Celia,” “Come Again” (John Dowland, arranged by Keel, from First Book of Ayres, 1597). "Love is a Bable ’ (from Robert Jones’s Second Book of Songs and Airs, 1601), “A Lover’s Garland” (translated from tha Greek), Stanford’s “Windy Nights” (R. L. Stevenson), and “The City Child” (Tennyson) were a delightful group, the singer giving a splendid interpretation of each of the two last-named. Tlie resonance and freshness of her voice were noticed in the French group: “Plaisir d’Amour,” “Jeunes Fillettes,” and “Maman. WHAT THE CRITICS SAY. The Daily Telegraph: “Miss Cruickshank pleased the ear as well as the eye, tor her voice makes up in pleasantness of timbre and (generally speaking) in smoothness <>f production for what it lacks both ot volume and variety, and, in a more or less intimate style, she uses it with no common ease and discretion. Some lovely old English songs, two very well-chosen examples of the art of Parry and Stanlord —whose ‘Windy Nights’ and ‘The City Child’ were among the best things she did —and some French chansons clearly suited her better than ‘Der Neugierige’ or Brahms’s ‘Vergebliches Standchcn,’ in. which the young singer’s excellent intentions were not fully realised. But she brought the right note of simple sincerity to the Negro Spiritualists which rounded off her pleasant, and not overlong, programme.” The Morning Post: “This young singer has considerable talent and much charm , . But if she can dres s elegantly, she can sing no less so. She has not a largo voice, but it is of very pleasant quality, and she uses it with a mastery that tells of good training and a musical temperament. One admired the versatility with which she applied herself to songs so far apart as Brahms’s ‘Standchen’ and ‘I Got a Robe.' If Miss Cruickshank is not yet a finished artist, she is well on the road to becoming one.” The Times refers to Miss Cruickshank as “a young singer with a pretty voice who aims at the intimate style of interpretation. . . . She has already. a good deal of the required technique, bat . . . she has not yet learned tbe secret of putting real heart, and feeling into the actual singing itself. She sings with a good deal of skill. ’