MODERN MUSIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22905, 12 June 1936, Page 3

MODERN MUSIC

NEW SCHOOL IN ENGLAND

MR VICTOR PETERS'S VIEWS

'• The modern school of composers at Home is having a widely-felt influence," said Mr Victor Peters, conductor of the Christchurch Harmonic Society, in an interview with a Daily Times reporter yesterday. "'J hey are providing a wealth of music, and oner a wide selection of short, brilliant compositions which are replacing the older, longer and less interesting works which have been featured on programmes in the past. Their works are also attracting considerable interest in the Dominion and in Australia." Mr Peters said that during the two years he spent in England he had met a huge number of contemporary composers and conductors and had studied with some of them. He had quickly become an admirer of their style, and on his return to New Zealand in 1931 he had set about making their names and compositions more widely known here. Among the more notable of these modern musicians were Vaughan Williams, Hoist, Dyson, Armstrong Gibbs, Constant Lambert, Howelk and Rutland Boughton. "Their music," Mr Peters said, " has a new virility, and it has a typical English musical idiom which is proving extremely attractive. There is no imitation of the Continental composers which has been the case to a great extent in the past. Short, brilliant works, most of them bristling with difficulties, are what they aim at and they are also attaining a higher standard of musical expression than those of the previous era." Williams, Mr Peters said, was notable as a song writer, a composer of church music, orchestral and choral works. Hoist was probably the most versatile of them all. He had written an excellent opera, orchestral music and several choral works, the moßt notable of which was probably the " Hymn of Jesus." Williams and Hoist had also done a great deal to foster a revival of England's folk muwc, mainly by taking -their themes from this source. Dyson had several remarkable choral compositions to his credit, including " In Honour of the City" and "The Blacksmiths." Gibbs w-as a song writer, his most outstanding efforts being " Five Eyes" and "Silver." Ilia "Highwayman" waß a choral work which Mr Peters recommended to the attention of all choral societies.

Mr Peters spoke enthusiastically of Lambert's " Rio Grande," a work which is shortly to be presented in Duncdin. Departing widely from the orthodox style, Lambert had in this descriptive work employed a very unusual combination—pianoforte solo, orchestra with brass and percussion sections prominent, and the choir in the background. He had also used the jazz idiom to obtain a vigorous rhythm. " It is a work," he said, " which is not likely to be appreciated at first hearing. Its strange dissonance and strident climaxes require more than one performance bofore one's ear may become accustomed to them." Mr Peters brought the music of these composers back to Christchurch with him on his return from England, and they were presented to audiences there through the medium of the Christchurch Harmonic Society. They had been well_ received there, he said, and there had since been a distinct revival of interest in choral music, with the result that the society had been considerably strengthened. Works by Hoist. Williams. Robcrton and Rutland Boughton had been presented in Dunedin some 14 months ago, end Constant Lambert waß now to be introduced to a local audience. As evidence of the interest' that had been created in the modern music, Mr Peters said that he had received inquiries from all parts of New Zealand and also from Australia for copies of it. While expressing enthusiasm for this school of musical expression. Mr Peters made it clear that he was not in favour of it to the. exclusion of the works of the great masters of the past. Indeed, to this day. Bach remained his favourite composer.