RECITAL OF MUSIC.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 885, 5 October 1933, Page 3

RECITAL OF MUSIC.

Miss Kathleen Garven and Pupils.

Platform appearances by Miss Kathleen Garven are not frequent, and a large audience at the Civic Theatre last evening gave her an enthusiastic reception wnen she appeared with a number of her own pupils and those of Miss Nellie Hayward in a recital of .music pre-, sented in aid of the orphanages of the Sisters of Nazareth. The standard of the items given was fairly high, and Miss Garven again revealed herself as a mistress of song. The programme opened with a solo and chorus from Puccini’s “ Madame Butterfly,” the soloist being Mrs Agnes Deeming. The chorus, although sympathetic and unobtrusive, was not always in harmony with the soloist, who was heard to much better advantage in “ One Fine Day,” from the same opera. She sang the number with sweetness and feeling, hut was always admirably restrained. Mr Clarence Hartley pleased the audience with a simple rendering of the " Rose of Tralee,” but his encore, ” La Donna e Mobile,” from Verdi s “ Rigoletto,” was a little too ambitious, and he was never quite at home with it. Miss Garven’s first four songs were Fairchild’s “ Wake Not, Beloved,” Brahms’s “ Love Song,” Bruneau’s “ The Vagabond ” and “ Serenade ” (Strauss). She sang them with a wealth of feeling and finished artistry. Miss Marion Hayward* amused the audience by her haste in leaving the stage after her number, as she bolted through the door, but nervousness did not prevent her from giving a splendidly artistic interpretation of Liszt’s arrangement of Verdi's “ Rigoletto.” Mrs V. Brosnahan sang the difficult “ Jewel Song ” from Gounod’s “ F'aust ” capably, and Mr J. M’Clinchy pleased with a bracket, of traditional airs, amusingly sung. The first part of the programme closed with the “ Farewell to the Forest ” aria from Tschaikowsky's “Joan d’Arc,” sung by Miss Garven, who later gave a further bracket—- " Trees ” (Kilmer —Rasbach), “ Thais ” (Massenet), " Thou’rt Like a Lovely Flower ” (Schumann) and “ Cuckoo Clock ” (Paganueci). Mr Eric Norrish gave vigorous interpretations of “ Annie Laurie ” and “ Mother Machree.” Then followed? one of the best items of the evening—Mrs Anita Ledsham singing the popular “ Softly Awakes My Heart ” aria by Saint Saens. She sang it with charm and fluent clarity. The most effective item on the programme was an artistic arrangement of the Schubert-Saar “ Ave Marla.” The solo was well taken by Miss Molly Metson, with a violin obligato by Mr Bernard Barker and the accompaniment of a well-trained choir of twenty voices. Other items were:—“Largo al Factotum” (Rossini), Mr Stanley Sayers; “ The Ride of the Valkyries ” (Wagner), Miss Marian Hayward; “Ho, Mr Piper” (Curran), Misses M’Lennan, Metson and James, Mrs Ledsham, Messrs Stewart, Hartley, Norrish and M’Clinchy. Miss Nellie Hayward was a painstaking and efficient accompanist.