MUSIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 676, 30 May 1929, Page 14

MUSIC

(By

A MUSICAL OUTCAST

TUP' early promise of our musical year is fading-. Concertmanagers and artists from abroad look at New Zealand with suspicious eyes, as a country that musically is not to be trusted. Evelyn Scotney returns to England and America after only a few concerts in Australia, much less a glance at New Zealand. The Dominion tour of Erica Morini, successful though she was in the Commonwealth, is completely cancelled. As for Brailowsky, William Murdoch, Harold Williams. .Jascha Spivakowsky—these have come to give recitals in Australia and “a New Zealand tour may be undertaken later.” Dusolina Giannini is the single artist who is definitely announced to come here; the rest are only “possibles.” A concert tour by a highly-paid artist must always be an uncertain venture. Particularly in recent years, there have been failures in New Zealand, but far the majority have been successful. Against the poor receptions of Friedman, Alfred O’Shea, Frances Alda, Amy Evans and Fraser Gange and Cherkassky, range the overwhelming successes of Paderewski, Heifetz, Hislop, Moiseiwitsch, Backhaus and Ivreisler! Many of the failures, too. had their own causes : O’Shea because in the South he attempted to manage his own concerts, which no artist seems able to do; Alda, because despite the fact that she was born in Christchurch she was comparatively unknown in New Zealand, and further because her “temperament” antagonised the people who mattered and would have helped; Evans, Gange and Cherkassky, because they were not household names. What’s in a name: People flocked to hear Paderewski and neglected Friedman; Heifetz played to a crowded house and empty benches rewarded the artistic Zimbalist. The extent and popularity of an artist’s recording is also an important factor for a successful tour. There are many better singers today than Peter Dawson, but, owing to his great popularity as a recording artist, few would bo as big a draw on a New Zealand concert tour. There can be no doubt that New Zealand will still give its warm support to musical visitors providing they are big enough. Kreisler, Florence Austral, Chaliapin, Backhaus, Heifetz, Galli-Curci, Jeritza—any of these would draw packed houses at any time. In the meantime we can only hope for a favourable change in the plans of Brailowsky, Spivakowsky, Murdoch and Williams.