GLOWING TONE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27091, 27 May 1949, Page 6

GLOWING TONE

OSCAR NATZKA AGAIN DELIGHTS DIVERSIFIED PROGRAMME It is a good many years since Dunedin audiences have had the opportunity of hearing a bass of Oscar Natzka’s quality, and last night’s auaience, though again not large, showed its awareness of this fact by sustained applause. Mr Natzka’s programme ranged widely among diverse styles—rather too widely, in fact—and contained something for everybody. Perhaps the first thing that strikes one is the glowing opulence of tone throughout his compass, right from the sonorous bottom register to the velvety top notes. One is next impressed by the sure control he exercises over this magnificent instrument, lie can produce the most tenuous filament of sound and the most robust fortissimo without deterioration of quality. His phrasing is shapely and his enunciation clear, although the Town Hall, usually so well-behaved acoustically, was not always kind; no doubt an occasional blurring of detail would have been absent in a fuller hall. His intonation is very exact, only just falling short of perfection. . And, not least important, he sings intelligently, refraining from all exaggeration. The most successful item in Mr Natzka’s opening group was “All Men Should Once with Love Grow Tender, from Tschaikowsky’s . “ Eugene Onegin.” This air enabled Mr Natzka to display remarkable subtlety of tonal shading, and its diverse expressive demands made his rendering ot it a compendium of all his best technical and musical attributes.' “La Vendetta,” from “Figaro," was sung with a mastery that explains his success in iviozart’s bass roles. Of the next group, perhaps “How Willing My Paternal Love,” from Handel’s “ Samson,” was the best. Mr Natzka invested it with a touching tenderness. His group of lieder was very good, especially the two Wolf songs, but “ Der Doppelganger ” and “ Der Leiermann ” were also highlights of the programme. In the latter Mr Natzka succeeded admirably in conveying the infinite pathos of Schubert’s setting, a pathos which is, however, much enhanced when the song is heard in its proper place in Schubert’s cycle. a miscellaneous group, very well sung, completed the scheduled programme, and the singer responded to the audience's applause witn two encores. Henri Penn’s accompaniments were again of a very high standard. For his solo appearance he played Brahms’s Intermezzo in E flat minor and Mendelssohn’s Prelude and Fugue in E minor. The Mendelssohn work, especially, was excellently done, with fine tone both in the quieter sections and in the big climaxes. * E. G.