END OF SEASON

Southland Times, Issue 20043, 3 December 1926, Page 8

END OF SEASON

OBCHESTBAL SOCIETY

SUCCESSFUL FINAL CONCERT

ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION BY PUBLIC

For close on two decades now the Invercargill Orchestral Society has been an energetic and consistent contributor to the town’s entertainment and throughout a long and successful career in musical provider it has enjoyed liberal support and patronage at the hands of local musiclovers. Last evening, in the Municipal Theatre, the orchestra appeared in the third and concluding concert of its eighteenth season and if there was previously any doubt concerning its popularity with the public it should certainly have been dispelled by the large audience present. The individual or organisation which sets out to provide public entertainment of any description undertake.- no mean task and when it is desired o gain the objective through the medium of music the task is especially onerous. Nowadays music—and good music at that —is so universally accessible that to the majority anything slyvrt. of perfection fails to satisfy so that the amateur musician or musicians who would court public favour has a high goal to strive for. This point was apparently fully appreciated by last night’s audience for in every case the efforts of the orchestra, though possibly leaving loopholes for faultfinding by the hypercritical, inspired unstinted praise on the part of all present. At times better cohesion and a greater unanimity on attack could have been desirable but there was always evidence of artistic interpretation supported and rendered attainable by individual and collective rehearsal.

In all the orchestra supplied five numbers with a fairly even measure of success. The audience obviously found all to its liking for in every case with the exception of the opening item it was content to disregard minor imperfections in demanding repetitions. The first overture “Le Nozze di Figaro” (Mozart) served as an acceptable intro duction and was given as brightly as an overture should be, but the orchestra was certainly more successful in its next item, “Chanson dun Auge” (A. Sammons) in which improved concerted effect was obtained. The crescendo and diminuendo over the concluding bars was pleasingly played. The next overture, Thomas’s “Mignon” was the orchestra’s most ambitious attempt providing opportunity for several of the instrumentalists to demonstrate their prowess in the fields of solo work. The ensemble fortissimo effect on the concluding chord, however, appeared to provide a difficult obstacle to a successful finale, for the attack was inclined to be rather forced and the release was not as neat as it could have been. “Liebestraum” (Liszt) was harmoniously and pleasingly played, while the concluding item, “Serenade Florentino” (Goddard) a dainty and fantastic piece was certainly a bright finale. Mr D. M. Strang, one of the orchestra’s leading violins, made a first appearance in the role of soloist and-although he played rather restrainedly his rendering of D. Ambrosio’s “Romance” received the enthusiastic appreciation it deserved and he had to respond with an encore. The vocalists of the evening were Miss Trixie Pryde (Invercargill) and Mr R. L. Stevenson (Gore). Miss Pryde sang very successfully on both her appearances, having to provide encores on each occasion. Brahm’s “Sapphic Ode” was followed by “O Western Wind” while for the encore number to “The Willow” she sang “Since My Lover Loves Me Not.” Mr Stevenson was no less favourably received. Though not particularly robust his baritone voice is one of pleasing timbre and flexibility, the songs he sang being well suited to its range and calibre. “The Tavern Song” (Howard Fisher) was his first offering and this had to be supplemented with “At Dawning.” On his second appearance he sang “Bells of the Sea” (A. Solman) and as an encore “You’ve got Your Mother’s Eyes.” Miss N. Hay, A.T.C.L., played the accompaniments to the vocalists.