JUVENILE ORCHESTRAS

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1932, Page 7

JUVENILE ORCHESTRAS

CONCERT AT NEW PLYMOUTH. GROWTH OF APPRECIATION. For a considerable period specialised attention has been, devoted to the cultivation of musical appreciation mid musical abilities in the secondary schools of New Plymouth and for some years the movement has been advanced into the primary schools by. enthusiasts in the art. Prominent among these has been Miss Evelyn Dowling, who has got together, classes for . stringed instruments among primary school pupils With encouraging results. With kindly memories of the concert last year the public of New Plymouth again attended in good numbers at St. Mary’s Hall last night to. hear once more these junior instrumentalists under the baton of their teacher. With material so young it could hardly be expected ffiat they approached perfection—there Were faults, chiefly the absence of that finer polish, smoothness and quickness in response, that can come only after years of diligent application. And yet there was something essentially inspiring in the work of the large combination of primary school and studio classes, whose numerous violins and deeper strings interpreted some brackets arranged simply by J. Brown in the pulsing sound that only such instruments dan produce. “Lubby Dinah,” the last of these, was an intriguing representation of a performance by a negro choir. A change from a wholly instrumental programme was made possible by the co-operation of Mrs. J. Kircher, one of whose pupils,” Valda Clarke, recited “A Trip to Blackpool,” and of Miss M. J. Feam and her choir ffdm the Girls’ High School. The girls sang with uniformly good quality ifl a variety of items that in themselves were Worth while apart from the instrumental section of the programme. The full choir commenced with Thimen’s two-part canon “I Have Twelve Oxen,” followed by Gibbs’ unison “Ye Spotted Snakes.” Shaw’s arrangement of “The Robin’s Last Will” was well done, aS ware the carols, “In the Stable” and “Good. King Wenceslas” (soloists, F. Harding and F. Horsup). The choir capped a fine programme by a finer finale, when, accompanied by the orchestra, the girls sang Troman’s “Pax Dei.”

Two items by the choir of girls under 14 years of age were the subjects of special appreciation—the. pretty folk song “Sweet Nightingale,” and the two-part “Hunter’s Farewell.” R. Mawhinrtey, the possessor of a sweet-toned soprano, gave “Butterfly Wings” .as a solo, following which the audience could only with difficulty be persuaded that encores were not allowed. The same songster earlier in the evening joined with G. Johnston in the duet “Then - 'tis the Cuckoo,” sfrom lolanthe.

The gem of the concert so far as orchestral music was concerned was an adagio recitative by Haydn, played by Miss Dowling’s senior orchestra, with the violin solo skilfully executed by J. Hatherly. The same orchestra played a Schubert selection, and other works were a Corelli-David Saraband (clarinet solo by D. Rawson), Handel's “See the Conquering Hero Comes,” and “Judas Maccabeus” march, Gluck’s Arioso (’cello solo by J. Abum). The junior studio orchestra gave a bracket of arrangements by J. Brown—“The' Happy Tinker” and a march. Other items comprised Braga’s Serenata as a trio (A; Abum, piano, G. Preacher, violin, and J. Fredric, ’cello), a Bach Saraband by F. Parfitt, violin (with string accompaniment), allegro from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, a well-played trio by J. Preacher (piano), R. Brinsley (violin) and L. Bent (’cello), a Bdethoven Minuet in G as a quartet (A. Abum, piano,* N. Sedgwick, violin, N. Thornton, viola, and N. Hull, ’cello), and a Tschaikowsky Song Without Words (A. Abum, piano, S. Mayer, violin, and N. Hull, ’cello).

Taken altogether the concert was a fine exposition of what can be accomplished with young pjayers and vocalists. Thanks to a foresight that ruled out encores, a lengthy programme was completed in good time.