MUSIC.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19759, 9 April 1926, Page 3

MUSIC.

NOTES AND RECORDS. Douuciess Samuel Fepys, as an ardent music lover, would have been vastly pleased (observes a Lundou paper) to find himself at the liveryman Theatre, Hampstead, on February 11, the hero of a ballad opera, especially as the play with music was his favourite sort of entertainment. It forms, indeed, the subject of the first act, for .Mr Pepya arrives home, having been to the play without his wife, ‘‘poor wretch.” Both his foibles, music, and the ladies, oiler excellent material for the pleasant little piece which Clifford Bax and Martin Shaw have written We even have a glimpse of Pepya as composer, although one cannot imagine him approving of the rather Sullivanesque tune with which he regales the ladies of the play house, (Nell Gwynn, Mrs Knipp, and others at lus home. Mr Shaw’s music is best when it closely follows the simple ‘‘Old English” style. Such things as the catchy “Bold Kobni,” in Act I. the male voice quartet in Act 11. the trio led by Mr Pepya (Act II)-, and the one or two charming dances, are all deligh (uh There was an admirable cast: Frederick Hanalow as Pepya, Isabel Jeans as Nell Gwynn, Margaret Sieveking as Mrs Pepya. and Florence M'Hiurh as the maid Deborah. Stravinsky's Octet for wood, wind, and brass, new to London, was played by an excellent party of London musicians (writes a critic) at the Music Society’s concert. The audience heard it without a smile. Yet surely it is droll or nothing. It belongs to Stravinsky’s recent ‘‘neoclassic” perioc in which he take.-- _ a Bachian or Beethovenian or Dqnizettian theme f( r two bars and in the third drops it with a comical grimace. The new work is nominally an Introduction and Allegro; Theme and Variations; and Finale. Of course, it 11 is really impish parody .md as such is amusing. Only eight first-class musicians are called on to play Stravinsky’s imitations of a bad piilitary band and liis impossible polyphony. We read that the chorus in m- st London theatrical productions of musical note is nowadays excellent. And with reason. There are numbers of '-ming singers—often graduates of the leading music schools, the Royal Academy the Royal College, and the Guildhall —who are anxious for the stage experience of a London ‘'show'.” In such a production as “Lilac Time” every member of the chorus is a trained singer. From the ranks of such choruses successful soloists emerge every now and again. The excellent opera chorus of the Old Vic contains eager, gifted musical students, and in such a company as, of course, the British National Opera Company, a high musical proficiency is called for. The Covent Garden chorus contains a number of 8.N.0 C. choristers and also a proportion of long-experienced singers who have worked at Covent Garden for many years. Such singers are linguists and know the chorus parts in doze.s of operas. Choral music has come at last to its own on the disc, to judge from recent H.M.V. triumphs. Unknown to the vast audience at the Royal Albert Hall in London, a gramophone record from the Royal Choral Society’s rendering of the “Messiah” has been made during the per formance. The experiment included the combined music of the great organ, a choir of some 800 voices, and an orchestra of 80 musicians. It is the result of the acquisition by the His Master’s Voice Company of the sole rights of recording music in the Albert Hall, and in future records of choruses, instrumental solos, and full orchestras, are to be made therfrom time to time. Writing of the results of the H.M.V. recording of the Royal Choral Society’s performance of “The Messiah” at the Albert Hall, an enthusiast says: For a Messiah chorus the finest I have yet heard is the H.M.V. “Lift Up Your Heads.” The tone is good, the proportion between the different sections of the chorus is good, and the balance between chorus and orchestra is excellent. What however, impressed me the most was the splendidly sonorous organ chords at the end; the pedals, including the big tuna of the Albert Hall instrument, come through so well that it made me hope for some solos some day. Another recording masterpiece from His Master’s Voic ■ is Arnold Bax’s unaccompanied motet, “Mater ora Filium ’ sung by the Leeds Festival Choir. 1 am inclined to class this as the very finest choral recording yet produced in the whole history of the gramophone (decla es a rev : eworl. The music, first of all, reveals Arnold Bax as one of the supreme masters in the handling of modern polyphony, in his insight for vocal effect, and his won clerful command of harmonic resource. Id this work, which never loses touch with its mystical subject, we have phases of powerful climax and moments of exquisite beauty. The themes are wrought int*, a tonal fabiic which recreates for us the genuine medieval atmosphere, but the picture glows, nevertheless, with the rich tints of modern Harmonic colour. The magnificent singing of the huge choir is recorded with all the spacious resonance which belongs to the performance of such a work. To all those who come from the north of the Tweed the recent supplement issued by His Master’s Voice should make a powerful appeal. There are records here (says a reviewer) which without doubt will mean the banging of many saxpencos. iSongs. traditional and otherwise, recitations in the vernacular, selections by the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, dance mus'c, including reels and strathspeys, and ;. potpourri of Scottish airs by the band of lI.M. Royal Air Force, all go to make up a good list. There is one red label record —Joseph Hislop, the famous Scottish tenor, singing “MacGregors’ Gathering’ and “Bonnie Wee Thing” and one black label, both lOin, of the Glasgow Choir, singing “An Eriskay Love Lilt” and “Scots Wha Hae.” Other records include Alexander MacGregor, baritone, and Andrew Shanks, bass, in some of the best known traditional ballads of Scotland, all sung as they should be sung, by vocalists steeped in the true traditions of Scottish melody Miss Bios? Herron, soprano, and Mb.- ('rue Davidson, contralto, who sings, among other favourites, “The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond,” supply the ladies’ share of the contributions, and both have beautiful and sympathetic voices. As a fine epitome of Scottish sentiment the band of lI.M. Koval Air Force supplies “Reminiscences of Scotland,” in two parts splendidly played. A happy combination is that of Dora Labette and Hubert Eudell, in Landon Ronald's “Down in flic Forest” and Edward German’s “Seven o'clock in the Morning," from “A Princess of Kensington. Miss Labette’s sweet if rather light soprano is oftoner heard in Old English songs, in the singing of which she 'tisnlays consummate ■art; Mr ED-mui is one of the pnanlnr ballad tenors in (lie Columbia list, f*>r lie lias n voice of agreeable quality and conveys the idea to 'w+.n.evs (hat he has a thorough understanding of (he character and purpose of everything he sings. That aecomn |: «U"U band of musicians, the ,T. M. Squire Celeste Octet, has been exceptionally well ecordert bv Columbia in (he “Poem.” by Zdenke Fibich. This delightful little piece in slow waltz time was one of the gems played by the Serbian violinist Brntza. when he toured New Zealand, and is among his records. Later, it has proved one of the most appreciate! of the smaller items in the repertory of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Band at th° Dunedin Exhibition The other side of the disc is occupied by “Love’s Old Sweet Song,” still a favourite after 40 years of hard wear. “Cavalloria Rusticana” overture orcupies both sides of a ten-disc record by-Columbia from a performance by the Court Symphony Orchestra. This delicate work receives a fine interpretation by n combination that is invariably successful in the lighter kind of operatic selections. Elgar shares with Sullivan the distinction of being an English composer who always commands respect among Continental musicians. He has removed the reproach of insularity which foreign -riticism. especially German, attached to English music. His “Empire Mamin” composed for the great Exhibition at Wembley, is like many other occasional works of art. lacking in spontaneity, or what passes for it. It is not likely to have the long life of “Pomp and Circumstance” or “Land of Hope and Glory” as it is often called However, the “Empire March” is essentially tuneful, original in character, and expressive of Empire as symbolised by the Groat Show now taken down and in process of removal. The march receives a very fine rendering from (he British Broadcasting Company’s Wireless Orchestra, conducted by Percy Pitt. Moszkowski’s jolly “TCrakewiak” (Op. fi.i, No. 4) backs the “Empire March,” and is treated in a spirited fashion.