MUSIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22295, 22 June 1934, Page 3

MUSIC

NOTES AND RECORDS By Allegbo. In a description in an English paper of a Stravinsky concert W. H. Haddou Squire says: " The Stravinsky concert bad a distinctly chilly critical reception, and the public stayed away in large numbers. Apparently the public is only too ready to believe conservative critics who never tire of telling them that beyond the classics there lies nothing but sandy deserts full of horrors. But the courageous would have found in this Stravinsky . con * cert a delectable country indeed. Kreisler foresees ' a reaction against the Roman luxury of huge orchestras and blatant tonal colour,' and with it ' a new chamber music of the twentieth century, comparable with that of the eighteenth century.' Stravinsky's Duo Concertant for piano and violin is one of the first-fruits of tliu new austerity. The skill with which he has solved ' the instrumental and acoustic problem presented by the strings of the piano and those of the violin' is little short of wonderful. . And the same may be said of the reduction of some of his orchestral works to the minimum of the same instruments —one has never heard more subtle or more beautiful relations of tone colour." Another description of this Duo Concertant is given by an English critic who reviewed a record of it made by the composer and Samuel Dushkin, the violinist: —This is a suite of five pieces, and the set of three discs also includes two movements from Stravinsky's Pcrgolesi suite. The Duo represents a late phase of Stravinsky's curious evolution. (Such things' as "Le Sacre du Printemps" were his sins of youth.) Only one movement of the Duo is at all extended—namely, the Gigue. The rest is laconic to a degree. It is not music for those with a very sweet tooth. Nor is it those who will listen to nothintr that is not strictly conventional and usuajl. But this music is not in the least obscure. Stravinsky here is rather depressed, rather wry, but very, dignified. It is a beautiful work. The members of the Dunedin branch of the British Music Society will be privileged to hear a recital by Mr Frederick Bullock and Mr Ernest Jenner to-morrow evening in Begg's Concert Chamber. Mr Bullock will sing a Brahms group including "Is It Joy or Grief Awaking?" "Rain Song," '.'Must We Then Once More be Parted? " " Song of the Lark," " Spanish Serenade," and " My Young Love is Green." His Hugo Wolf songs are to be " E'en Little Things,'' " From Her Balcony Green," " Would'st Thou Behold Thy Lover Sadly Dying?" and "Wandering." The last group consists of Debussy's " Starrv Summer Time," Vincent d'lndy's "Madrigal," Erich Wolff's "The Solitary Piper," and "Angel's Vigil," "Sweet Venevil," and "The Minstrel," by Delius, and " Under the Greenwood Tree," and " Winter Time." and " Springtime," by Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Mr Jenner will play Glazounov's "Theme and Variations," opus 72, by Glazounov, and Ravel's " Une Barque sur . L'Oceon," and " Alborada del Grazioso." A feature of the Wednesday evening concert by the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra was the Franck " Symphonic Variations," with Mrs B. R. Nees as 1 soloist. Piano and orchestra shared the emotion and execution of this work so sympathetically that a most satisfying performance was the result. Every note that Mrs Nees played was clear, even her softest passages singing through the instruments, so beautifully pro'duced was her tone. Of the two "Lohengrin" preludes, the one to "Act III" was really tlfe more successfully executed, with its more straightforward, march-like character. The long-drawn-out chords high in the violins and flutes of the opening to the Prelude to Act I are extremely difficult to commence artistically. The delicacy of the chords divided them among the violins and giving out the one theme of the Prelude, ip such that it requires the most skilful handling. Through the crescendo, to the climax, again the entries of the other instruments against the strings may completely spoil a performance of the work, and the manner in which they silence themselves ha s much to do with the effectiveness of the last ethereal passages of the violins.

Rimsky-Korsakoffts " Scheherazade symphonic suite is interesting both fromits points of orchestration and from what it has to tell musically. This was a finely-played number.. One had opportunities of hearing various combinations of instruments, changing rhythms, a beauti-fully-played solo violn talking of the East to its fellow-instruments, later replied to by the 'cello, to say nothing of work by oboe and woodwind and brass. Let us hope that such another work will appear on a later programme. Smaller works included in the programme were Mendelssohn's happy "Scherzo," enjoyed by both audience and p'ayers. Godard's "Adagio Pathetique" and the wild "Gopak" of Moussorgsky, as well as extracts from the ever-popular " Cavalleria Rusticana." Miss Florence Pacey's numbers were "Va T se Song," from Edward German's "Tom Jones," "Lament of\lsis," by Bantock, and "To the Angels,'|'by Zardo. Once again comes " Music in New Zealand," with a tribute to Gustav Hoist by Mr T. Vernon Griffiths, and "A Chat About Bows," by Mr Harold Riddle—the latter interesting not only, to violinists but to all, especially those who knew well enough of a Stradivarius violin but little or- nothing of a Tourte bow! " Pianofortitude" is an interesting enough (title to make one read, perhaps, first of ail, what Mr L. D. Austin has to say on the mattter. Mr Trevor Fisher reviews part of a London season, and again makes us wish to be nearer the world's musical centres, while Mr John Bishop sends an Australian letter.

Eight grand pianos have recorded the Gershwin "Rhapsody in Blue." This jazz classic should be a successful follower to " Lazy Bones" and Rachmaninoff's " Prelude." Gershwin records are comparatively few in this country, so that this makes one more to add to the list of a jazz composer who really appears to know what he is writing' about, even though it may not be our way of thinking. The Massed Bands recorded at the National Band festival. Cryßtal Palace, have made a disc of "And the Glory of the Lord," from "The Messiah," and " Sweet and Low," by Barnby. The latter makes an effective contrasting number.