CHORAL SOCIETY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23332, 26 October 1937, Page 4

CHORAL SOCIETY

CONCERT TO-MORROW NIGHT Right from the invigorating pomp of Moussorgsky’s “ Coronation Scene/’ which will open the concert, to the exhilarating sweep of the Vaughan Williams “Sea Symphony” with which the evening’s programme will conclude, the Choral Society’s forthcoming concert will be of the greatest musical interest and enjoyment. The concert will take place in the Town Hall tomorrow night, and it is anticipated that a record house will greet Mr Alfred Walmsley and this enthusiastic band of singers and players who are giving the entertainment in aid of the Plunket Society’s building fund. The programme is an absorbing one. The audience will be able to revel in the cream of the music of the past, as represented by Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, while for those interested in modern composers there are two works which will be heard here for the first time—the “Sea Symphony,” composed' by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and a work that has never been previously performed. Temple Sevan’s “ Hell Gate,” a setting to the poem by A. E. Housman. During a recent visit to this country. Temple Sevan composed the work, which, appropriately enough, is first to be performed in New Zealand. The score (still* in 'manuscript, but shortly to be published in England) bears the inscription “Auckland, New Zealand, November, 1934.” Another thrilling excerpt from Russian opera will also be heard. This is the Coronation Scene from •“Boris Godounov,” by Moussorgsky. Boris, a usurper of the throne of Russia, gives vent to his doubts and dreads amidst the shouts of the mob at the Kremlin, in Moscow. The music depicts the coronation procession of Boris into the Cathedral of the Archangels. On the operatic stage this scene is one of the most magnificent one could witness; it is as well that in the concert version which will be heard to-morrow night the music is sufficiently atmospheric as to convey the full meaning of this piece of pageantry. Mr John Pringle will sing the part of the Czar Boris, with the full chorus and orchestra. The booking arrangements for the concert are advertised.