THE AUSTRALIAN SILVER BAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19687, 14 January 1926, Page 15

THE AUSTRALIAN SILVER BAND

Robert Burns had not only a keen sense of humour, but a great fundamental knowledge of human nature. It is good for us to see ourselves as others see us, whether in private or public life. In musical matters it is so easy to criticise and find fault with whatever is presented for public consumption. It is all the more amazing, therefore, to find the press critics agreeing on the same subject. That subject is also an object of admiration. In all cases the playing of the Australian Silver Band has come as a surprise to many who had ideas of the ordinary brass band, with all due respect to the many hard-working members of bands. The Auckland Star critic is a musician of note, an organist and choirmaster, and his remarks, therefore, carry extra weight. In dealing with the first concert given by the Australian Silver Band in the Queen City of the North, he says:—“One of the most noticeable features of the band is its versatility, grand opera, church music, or jazz (with appropriate gestures) being all rendered with equal success and equal fitness. When you hear a band revelling in the eccentric ‘Maggie! Tes Ma!’ one ofthe jazziest of jazzes, yon would hardly expect it to move you la ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee,’ or ‘Lead, Kindly Light,’ but nothing could be finer than the reverential way in which those grand old tunes were played last night. The band got a really majestic organ tone, which, with one’s eyes closed, gave a perfect illusion of being in church. Then again, in grand opera, the band showed a rausicianly grasp of the work. The dramatic passages and exacting recitatitives, which mean so much to operatic music, sound commonplace in the hands of a commonplace band, but the Australian Silver Band does its work like ai. orchestra.” This wonderful combination will commence a short season on Monday next in His Majesty’s Theatre. The box plan is now open at the Bristol.