BRITISH MUSIC.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20354, 10 March 1928, Page 17

BRITISH MUSIC.

A NEW ZEALANDER’S SUGGESTION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, January 25. Mr T. Vemon-Griffiths (conductor of the Royal Christchurch Musical Society) complains in a letter to the Musical Times that for those in th e Dominion who are engaged in the work of furthering the interests of music generally, and especially of the school teachers, students, and children, it is a difficult task to create a real interest in British music. “ The wave of enthusiasm which has spread over England for the work of English composers,” he writes, “ and for the '.vork of those who to-day are bringing the Home Country once more to the forefront, has hardly reached this country It is not vet realised here that conditions have changed at home, and that British composers and British musical institutions are doing work of which any country might be proud. “ A start has been made, however. At public lectures the gramophone is proving invaluable as a means for bringing the music of Holst, Vaughan Williams. John Ireland, Prank Bridges, Joseph Holbrooke, and many others to a first hearing, and some of the easier and shorter choral works ar e being done by a musical society here and there. “ But in to many places there is incredulity. Many of our people left England in the days bnfor e the present renaissance had started ; in those days when England still looked to the Continent for everything musical. “ It is true that we have a liberal share of concerts given by various Continental artists; but as these performers usually limit their choice of music to about a score of well-worn works which hav e already been heard ad nauseam, it is, perhaps, too much to expect of them that they should include some of th e outstanding modern British works in their programmes. BRITISH PROGRAMMES SORELY NEEDED. “ Visits by British artists bringing with them exclusive programmes of British music are sorely needed. Could not the British National Opera Company, the English Singers, the choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge, two or three of our leading pianists and violinists, and one of our best orchestras, start a series of tours through the dominions for the purpose of showing distant parts of the Empire that British music past and nresent is something of which to be proud? “ There is a very real enthusiasm for music in New Zealand. The excellent work initiated by Mr Douglas Taylor, the Government adviser in music, is already bearing fruit in the schools. It is no uncommon occurrence to hear children singing English folk songs and shanties in the streets, and it seems to be the favourite recreation of students in certain centres. “ It is sincerely to be hoped that something may soon be done on the lines suggested above.”