DUNEDIN COMPETITIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 52

DUNEDIN COMPETITIONS.

DEMONSTRATION CONCERT

Judging oy the liberal patronage bestowed upon the Dunedrin Competitions Society's fixtures during . the- post week, whilst the judiges were adjudicating, upen the merits ofothe various .competitors,, it was- fair _,to assume -that a .large audience would be present at the first--of the demonstration concerts, given on" Friday in His .Majesty's ' Theatre.'''' These '' concerts set, as it were,;. the official" seal of ; merit upon those whose names appe&r upon theprogramme, arid-it-is' hardly surprising, therefore, 'that the. large theatre- was taxed-to the utmost ■'■ to accommodate-, the very large audience that was' present to form Opinions upon the merits of the various performers. ~• . ~ ...

The programme was a lengthy one, comprising 33 items, against which were set down the names of many who had distinguished themselves before the official critics. The .exacting demands of the latter were noticeable to a slight extent whilst several of the juveniles were on the stage, both in soags and recitations, and in a few instances the young performers were slightly hoarse, and thus failed to do themselves the same justice which marked their earlier efforts. -By most, of the andience. however, these trifles were unnoticed, and the. performers one and all acquitted themselves admirably.

: Standing- room Only was available in His Majesty's Theatre on Saturday evening, wnen, punctually at half-past 7 o'clock, the curtain was rung up for the final demonstration concert of the Dnnedin Competitions Society's annual festival. Success must be written in large letters over the society's operations during the past fortnight The standard of the work put forward has been generally high, the attendances of the public have been . very large, and the arrangements throughout have been admirably controlled by the committee. ' Dr Roberts occupied the chair on Saturday evening, and in a few brief but scarcely audible remarks he extended the. committee's thanks to all the competitors and 'to the public, and the hearty congratulations of the to the prize-winners. The lengthy concert programme of 32 items was then proceeded with. COMMENTS By PROFESSOR IVES. Professor Ives makes the following general criticism and comment on the work that has come before him in the Du'nedin Competitions:— . I think the standard of work in the music sections an improvement on last year's. In the pianoforte section the high level' of attainment you then showed has been maintained —nay, even improved upon. The playing in the Beethoven, Grieg,. Rubenstein, and Mendelssohn was very, good indeed, and showed not only excellent points of technique, but real musicianly feeling and. artistic temperament. " • The violin work was careful and good, but I should like to have heard more. There was a great improvement in the choral sieging. The level of attainment was much higher than that reached last year. Tone quality, phrasing, verbal and tonal expression were better, while the matter of intonation (singing in tune) was excellent. Other -choirs should take example and heart by this, and take part, in future competitions.- The practice and training preparatory to tJjese friendly competitions would do much to improve the standard of choir singing in church worship. For why should not God's praise be sung in the best tones if we are in earnest.

The solo singers, as a whole, were better than .last year. There were many voices of promise displayed by nonwinners, showing good material for teachers of voice production and singing to work upon. There was, however, much carelessness of preparation oftimes shown by other possessors. They made little or no attempt at word painting or word accentuation, thus showing either that they were not in earnest or had not learned the art of word colouring and emotion picturing. I am under much obligation to the press for their able digests of my remarks to competitors. These suggestions and comments I have made have been intended to help students in their work and thus serve an educational purpose, and this purpose has been greatly furthered by the publicity given by the press.

I am goirfg away with very nice thoughts about Dunedin and its people—thoughts that are highly coloured with a sense of obligation for many courtesies shown to me during by brief but busy time in this musical centre.