BANDSMEN'S COLUMN

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 205, 3 October 1914, Page 2

BANDSMEN'S COLUMN

Woolston Band gave an open-air concert in the Rotunda in the Woolston Domain last Sunday afternoon. The at-, tendance of the public was small. The weather, though fine, was cold, which probably accounted for the small attendance. I understand that the sum of £2 10/- was subscribed towards the new instruments, and that, in addition to this, a kind friend gave a sovereign. The playing of the band was not up to the usual standard. Perhaps the, cold wind blowing across the stand may have been partly to blame for this. I will make a few general remarks on the band's performance of the various items. The opening item, "Rule Britannia," was well played. The next was the very difficult contest march, ' 1 Mephistopheles'' ( Shipley Douglas). The introduction was w T ell attacked, but the running trills for the cornets were indistinct, and in the second bar some one or more cornets were trilling on the E natural. The solo cornets were wrong in their reading of the next movement after the second double bar, and their articulation was faulty, and again at the fortissimo following the pianissimo. In trying to do justice to this they lost the swing, i.e., it became rather laboured. The staccato passage was neatly played, but why was the euphonium playing sotto voce? The downward scale passage is in the form of a counter melody, and should be heard to advantage. This could justly be played a good mezzo-forte. There is a lot of detail and technical work in this that was not brought out. The most serious point was the tempo in the next subject—the part marked '' Cantabile'' which was taken too slowly, which robbed it of its spirit. "Cantabile" means in a singing style, smoothly and flowing, but a march is a march all the same. Here, again, the euphoniuili has a melody which was hidden; the double forte following was very good, and the first p«art of the trio also was well played by the cornets; but the melody for baritone and euphonium was quite obscured. All one could hear was the florid cornet passage. The solo for trombones and euphonium was good. Apart from the above all went very well till the double forte was reached. Here are two special bars' of dynamie notes. These were Wrongly 1 played. The effect here should have been that of syncopation. The next item was a hymn varie, '' Beulah.'' Generally speaking, this was well rendered. The "Dinorah"; selection was not so good as I hoped.. The band has worked hard on this, but many faults were observed. The intonation in tlife octaves was faulty in the alto and tenor, in bars 1,-2, and 5, 6, and there 1 was a falling away of the tone in the intervening bars. The •forte was capita,!; the cornet solo, " \'Twas a False and Cruel Story,?' was well accompanied,. but the demisemiquavers in the few bars before the cadenza, were played too slowly. The cadenza was fair, but too hurried, and somewhat indistinct. (l Oh, Maidens in Spring-time" was not good at B, being too heavy iand lacking in elasticity of tone, and the same again at the A tempo. "Lowly We Bend Before Thee" —The trombone played this solo with fine quality of tone and expression, and had a,n excellent conception of this movement. The band also accompanied well. The "Ensemble" was effee-

i (By "MAESTRO.")

tively attacked, but the leggiero was somewhat laboured. The band seemed to drag behind, being behind the beat for several bars before E, and in 'the third bar after E the balance was not good in the semiquavers. A very good crescendo was made to the double forte, where all went well to letter F. The six-eight Allegro was a stumbling block to many of the players —those two semiquavers in the middle of the triplet were only done by a few. The euphonium solo, "Nothing Like a Cheerful Ditty," was too hard and straight—in other words, mechanical. This should be played with more fluency, with considerable temperament, and more tempo rubato. The accompaniments were good. The six-sixteen was not uniformly good. The various articulation marks were only observed by some, and made this short movement rather lacking in character. The trombone and cornet in "In the Chapel," etc., were very good. The movement after the chromatic passage was taken some few degrees above : the tempo marked, otherwise it was satisfactory. The Allegro agitati was very good. The finale, "The Shadow Dance," was not up to expectations. So far as mere playing, there Was little amiss, but from a technical standpoint there were many discrepancies. Considering the difficulties in this piece, the selection was very fairly rendered. The song, "Distant Voices,'' was well handled by all. '' The Pilgrim's Song," by Baptiste, also, except that there was a tendency to sameness. The best piece of the lot was the glee, "In this Hour of Softened Splendour." I must highly compliment the band on its excellent playing of this number; it was by far their best effort of the day. The march was very well given, and also the extra number, the hymn, "At Even e'er *the Sun was Set." ' x . The Woolston Band seems to have hard luck in their efforts to obtain permission to give concerts in any of the public places here. > Their only, hope at present is to continue to play outside. Most bandsmen will remember Mr Fox, late . conductor of Oamaru 10th Regimental Band —how that early in the year he left for England. Since then the band has practically been without a conductor, and only recently were advertising for one. Latest news from an authentic source says that Mr Fox is on his way back to the Dominion, and has been again appointed bandmaster. Evidently Mr Fox prefers the climate of Oamaru to that of the old land. Wanganui Band gave another successful concert at the Opera House on Sunday last, the grand selection, '' Gems of Tchaikowsky'' was included in the programme. " This is a magnificent selection, and would be very welcome here. Surely some >of the bands have this piece in their repertoires. This great Russian composed some beautiful music. Even Tolstoy at one time professed to be a disciple of the great Russian composer, and this branch of Art (music) moved him as no otheir Art did. ]

Nothing more seems to "be tloiiig in contest matters. The event being postponed indefinitely means , none at all this year, and how soon next is mere conjecture. The North Island contest is booked for Napier early in the year, and it is hardly likely that the bands from that Island -would neglect that one for this. ~ The article next week will deal with interpretation."