PIANO RECITAL

Southland Times, Issue 20044, 4 December 1926, Page 8

PIANO RECITAL

MR F. MOORE LARGE AND APPRECIATIVE AUDIENCE . - A. LOCAL BOY SCOUTS BENEFIT The seating accommodation at St. John’s Hall was altogether too limited to cope with the large audience which assembled to hear a pianoforte recital, given by Mr Frederick Moore, F.R.A.M., last evening. The life of an examiner of any college or academy is sufficiently strenuous to entitle him to resist with a perfectly clear conscience, any calls on his leisure momenta. Mr Moore, who has been conducting examinations on behalf of the Associate Board, is no exception to the rule w'here work is concerned, and he might easily have been pardoned had he refused to give a recital during his stay in Invercargill. For some years Mr Moore has been an ardent support of the Boy Scout movement and when he discovered through Mr J. B. Reid, of the Rotary Club, that he could give some monetary assistance to the local troop by means of a recital he willingly placed his services at their disposal. 'Die audience therefore availed themselves of a dual privilege, that of helping the scouts and that of listening to one of the most enjoyable recitals presented here for some time. Mr Moore confessed, at the outset, that his work as examiner had necessarily kept him out of touch with the keyboard as far as actual recitals were concerned and for that reason exhorted his audience to hear patiently with any little inaccuracies that might occur. The few inaccuracies that did creep in, and they were few and far between, were quickly forgiven and forgotten in the genuine appreciation of his work and the evening passed all too quickly. Mr Moore prefaced each item with a few remarks about the characteristics of the composer or the composition. Often he would demonstrate some particular point by the playing of a few chords or bars and this, coupled with the simpleness with which he spoke, added in no small degree to the enjoyment of the evening. The programme commenced with two sketches “Pavane” , and “His Rest” by Byrd and Farnaby respectively. The next item was a Hornpipe by Purcell, this being composed for the harpsichord “Pastorale,” by Scarlatti, followed, and then came the Bach bracket, Prelude in C, Organ Prelude and Fugue in D and Gavotte and Musette (a particularly dainty little piece). There were three great things in the world, said Mr Moore, the Bible, Shakespeare and Bach. As a composer nothing could touch the last named. The first half of the programme was concluded by a Chopin bracket, Nocturne in D flat and Sonata in B flat minor (agitato, scherzo and march funebre). For the second half Mr Moore chose works of a lighter character. Those were “Poem,” Fibich, “Paprllon,” Henrique, “Barcarolle” and “Dance of the Elves” (two of Mr Moore’s own composition), “Musical Box” Woodward, another Chopin Polonaise Op. 22 and finally the Paganini-Liszt Etude in E. On the conclusion of the recital the Rev. J. A. Lush thanked Mr Moore on behalf of those present. In a short response Mr Moore said he hoped to be revisiting Invercargill in the near future and when he did so he would be glad to give a recital in order to assist in the purchase of a grand piano. Visiting pianists, he said, would not be likely to visit Invercargill until an instrument of this description was provided for them.