SYDNEY’S CARILLON.

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 23

SYDNEY’S CARILLON.

SWFET.TONED RET .IS UNIVERSITY AVAR MEMORIAL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY. May 3. Although difficult to pronounce by not n few people. “ Carillon ” is now becoming quite a friendly word in the lexicon of Sydney folk, since the bells have been set ringing from the imposing instrument of that name at the University. A memorial to the soldiers it was, very fittingly, heard for the first time on Anzac Day, which, by the way, provided in tho march of the diggers one of the most brilliant spectacles in the history of Sydney. The Carillonis ran the whole gamut of music, from Chopin's “ Funeral March ” to light fantasia. Getting back to the pronunciation of “ Carillon,’’ some, prefer not to attempt it, and are content, as they are at perfect liberty to do. according to the professors, to speak of it in good plain English as the “ hells.” Those who speak of it as “ karilyon ” seem to be quite safe. Anyway, that is the way the leading lights of the university pronounce it. Again, what of tho very skilled gentleman who plays tho carillon, Mr Barker? He is a “ Karilyonist.” Many people who had gathered within the university grounds, and in the street outside, to hear the carillon, had expected to find the whole countryside flooded with musical notes, above the din and tho tumult of the city. They were disappointed. They had expected a far fuller volume of tone from the great bells, one of which, in memory of the soldiers, is known as the “ A.1.F.” It is really a concert carillon, and not an instrument designed to fill the land with music. Since some of the treble bells weight only 141 b, it is fairly obvious that these cannot carry an enormous distance. The bells, however, certainly impressed the audience by the sweet quality of their tone. The old and familiar “ Blue Bolls of Scotland,” for example, revealed strikingly the mellow tone quality of the carillon.

All the same. Sydney is a bit disappointed. It had fondly believed that, at night, it could sit on its verandahs miles off, an hear a most delightful concert from the Great Tower of the University. Instead of that, the carillon is, on account of tram and other noises, only faintly heard a quarter of a mile away.