The World of Music

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19953, 10 November 1934, Page 12

The World of Music

! Notes and Comments of General Interest jw (By "Semitone”).

An announcement that he had invited the famous German tenor, Richard Tauber, to come to Australia and New Zealand, was made by Sir Benjamin Fuller on his return to the Commonwealth from a visit to Britain recently. The singer intimated that he had a great desire to visit these countries, and there was every possibility that he would come out here in 1936. At the same time Sir Benjamin mentioned that while in England he had renewed acquaintance with Tom Walls, the British comedian, who had expressed a wish to visit Australia again in person. It was quite possible that this wish would be fulfilled in the near future.

The final concert for the season by the Wellington Male Voice Choir will be given on Thursday, November 15, when Mr Stanley Oliver will again be the guest conductor. Variety will be the keynote of the programme, and the choir will be assisted by a chamber orchestra of strings and drums. The chief choral item will be the complete set of “Sea Songs” by Stansford, with orchestral accompaniment. Three short French-Canadian folksongs, specially arranged by the guest-con-ductor, will be a distinct novelty. The orchestral items will include a “Fantasia” for strings by Byrd, and a group of better known short items, such as the Boccherini, “Minuet,” arranged for strings, piano, and reed organ.

After a stage romance lasting ten or a dozen years, Cyril Rithcarcl and Miss Madge Elliott have announced their engagement to marry in real life. These two favourites of the Australian and London musical comedy stage, who

were sfeen in Auckland three years ago in “Blue Roses” and “Follow Through," are back with their first employers, J. C. Williamson,-Ltd., at the moment, playing in “Blue Mountain Melody,” at the Sydney Theatre Royal. They will play in Melbourne during the Centenary celebrations, after which they intend to be married. In an interview Miss Elliott said: “We want to have a lovely honeymoon holiday, so we will not be married until just before we leave Australia, at the termination of our present engagement.”

News continues to reach the head offices of Messrs J. C. Williamson (N.Z.), Ltd., of the sensational success of the Band of His Majesty’s Grenadier Guards, now in Australia. Melbourne has particularly appreciated the visit of the Band for its Centenary celebrations, and scenes unparalleled in the city’s history have been witnessed by residents and visitors. It is estimated that nearly a quarter of a million people clamoured to obtain even a glimpse of the Bandsmen on their arrival in the Victorian capital, *nd the police had a strenuous time clearing a path for them. Indoor concerts and outdoor performances have attracted thousands of people. Not only music lovers who can appreciate the subtle tonal variations of the programmes played so expertly under the guidance of Major George Miller, but lovers of spectacles who see in the magnificently build Guardsmen a touch of old England and her history and tradition. The programmes are so skilfully balanced that each contains something that will appeal to someone, ranging from opera to musical comedy, Gilbert and Sullivan to “humorous” items, Wagner to modern British composers. Amongst the items one notes “La Boheme,” “William Tell,” Overture “Carmen,” the sextette from “Lucia,” “The Desert Song,” “Aida,” “The Guards’ Patrol,” “Waltzes from Vienna,” “Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?” the “1812” Overture” and so on. The New Zealand tour of the Band commences at Auckland on December 4, under Williamson-Tait direction.

The captivating personality of Master Philip Hargrave endeared him to his first Wellington audience last Saturday before he had played a note. But at the clf>se of his remarkable concert the audience was hailing him as a virtuoso, entitling the lad to comparison with older and more matured masters of the pianoforte who have visited New Zealand. The fresh charm of the youth, combined with his extraordinary powers of memory, execution and interpretation, stamp him as something more than exceptional. He is an artist born, and a world career amongst the greatest musicians of the day is predicted for him. His assured technique soon changes wonderment at his extreme youth into deep appreciation of him as a pianist, and in Wellington, as elsewhere, the true lover of music has paid tribute to the Godgiven art of a boy so small that his feet barely reach the pedals of the grand piano at which he modestly seats himself. With a repertoire embracing the most famous composers the world has known, he puts up a performance that is never mechanical, but inspired into an effort of rare beauty. Delicacy and strength are in his touch on the keyboard, and in prolonged passages there is no let-up on artistry or flawless executive powers. It is a unique experience New Zealanders are enjoying at the hands of a mere lad, and music lovers, in a few years’ time, will be congratulating themselves that they were privileged, through the good offices of Messrs J. and N, Tait, to have heard the youngster in all the freshness of budding virtuosity. So for, only Australia and New Zealand have heard him, but his teacher and guardian, Mdlle. Henriette Garnaut, who accompanies Philip on this tour, has every hope and ideal centred in making her cheerful little protegee a European and Continental star of the first magnitude. Mr J. Alexander Browne, the assisting artist, is a pleasant light baritone, and, accompanied by Mr Gordon Short, did much to make the Wellington season of Philip Hargrave so successful.

The repertoire of the Band of His Majesty’s Grenadier Guards comprises 19 different programmes, ranging from the classic to the popular, from Wagner, Gilbert and Sullivan to musical comedy. Among many others that have a general appeal are “La Boheme” selections, “William Tell” Overture, “Carmen,” sextette from “Lucia,” grand selection, “Aida,” colonial song, and “Molly on the Shore” (by Percy Grainger), excerpts from “Waltzes from Vienna,” overture, “Oberon,” Liszt’s "Hungarian Rhapsody,” “Liebestraum,” “The Gondoliers,” “With Sword and Lance,” “The Desert Song,” “A Children’s Overture,” “Grand March” from “Tannhauser,” “Highland Patrol,” “Dance of the Tumblers,” overture “Poet and Peasant,” Fantasia, “A Day in Naples,” Naval Patrol, London Bridge March, English Songs of the 17th Centry, songs of Ireland, and many others. Several interesting part songs have been selected for the Royal Auckland Choir’s final concert of the season, which is to be given on November 29. A number which has not been given by the choir for some time, but which is always popular, is an ingenius arrangement by Dudley Buck of the well-known airs “Then You’ll Remember Me” and “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep” for harmonised simultaneous singing. Buck's “Hymn to Music,” another noteworthy example of the same composer’s gift for writing for male concert voices, and Hammond’s setting of “Lochinvar” will be of interest. In the latter composition, the baritone solo will be taken by Mr A. Gaily. Miss Mina Caldow, contralto, and Mr A. G. Fogerty, tenor, will be the vocal soloists, and Mr W. Henderson and Mr V. Cater will give two flute duets.

A charming paragraph was noticed in the “Daily Telegraph” concerning the playing of a viola by a street musician:—“lf the appearance of the cuckoo is recorded with due ceremony year after year by our gravest periodicals, the first appearance of the viola in the streets of London cannot be allowed to pass unnoticed. It was in the neighbourhood of the Queen’s Hall that the other night I heard for the first time its discreet tones. It was not played particularly well —certainly not as well as the violin used to be played by the man who last year attracted general attention and has now deserted his beat. The instrument, too, was rather small. But the society for the prevention of noise should encourage performers of an instrument the tone of which does not carry beyond a couple of yards. A controller of London noises who banished from the street cornet, trombone, and saxophone players might earn our thanks, for these men’s music is sweetest unheard. But the humble viola cannot arouse antipathy or annoyance. Like the flower whose name it bears, it is noticed only by those who seek it.”