"THE SCOTTISH BARD"

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 198, 21 August 1929, Page 6

"THE SCOTTISH BARD"

WM. HEUGHAN IN WANGANUI. There is no artist before the public to-day who has the power to sway an audience as has William Heughan, the Scottish Bard. There are singers who possess knowledge of technique, of style, of stage appearance, but there is an element lacking in their art—the power to grip. In Heughan an audience finds every quality that goes to make a perfect singer and there is the notable addition that his voice has a wealth of feeling that plays upon the heart and sends it a’fluttering in tune with the artist’s will.

“The Land o’ the Heather” camo floating to the visions of those who attended at the Opera House last night. The older generation saw again the rugged scenery of the Highlands, felt again the power, the homeliness and the staunchness of the peoples of their kith and kin. The younger generation were swayed to thoughts of future days when they, too, would see and know the Scotland of their dreams. Folk songs sung possessed all the wondrous charm, all the deep feeling that stamped them as songs of the people. Not only Scotland and her rugged history was traced, clear as a pathway, through last evening’s entertainment, but one was gripped also by the appealing folk songs of Old England, Ireland and Wales. It was truly a revelation to sit and listen to the skilled artist assume the role of a delineator of character through the medium of song. It was interesting also to be told by the singer just what each song meant, why it had been composed, and by whom. That in itself was part of the entertainment.

Apart from folk songs Mr Heughan’s art embraces wide scope. He is at home in opera as he is in lighter mood, and the difficult operatic pieces presented little trouble to one of his ability. His voice had pathos, it fired the martial spirit, and it gripped. Mr Harrison Frewin’s “Wi a Hundred Pipers,” the singer sang with such realism that the audience literally saw the pipers, marched in step with them, and felt the grip of their music. “The Road to the Isles,” the old Hebridean marching song, was rendered with feeling, until “We, in dreams beheld the Hebrides.” “The Laird o’ Cockpen,” “The Piper o’ Dundee,” “The Bonnie Earl o’ Moray,” “The Skye Boat Song,” “The Standard on the Brae s o’ Mar,” were others selected from a repertoire of Scottish songs. From the operatic air the singer chose “So il Rigor” (Halevy), and “Suore the riposate” (Meyerbeer). “The Pilgrim’s Song,” “Young Dietrich,” “Summertime on Bredon,” “Waiata Poi, ” “Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron,” “Jan’s Courtship,” “As I was Going to Banbury,” “Molly Brannigan,” “The Mountains o’ Mourne, ” were chosen from among classics, ballads and folk songs. Mr Heughan was assisted by two world famous artistes, Mis Maud Bell (’cellist) and Miss Gladys Sayer (pianiste). Miss Bel} has won fame wherever she has played by introducing beauty and power into her art. She displayed marked interpretative gifts in “Sarabande in D Major” (Bach-Henschel), Minuet (Beethoven), “Traumerei” (Schumann), “Nocture” (Trowell), “Lullaby” (Cyril Scott), and “Butterflies’’ (Hamilton Harty). Miss Sayer’s ability as sola pianiste and accompanistc impressed itself on the audience. Many of the accompaniments of the folk songs on (he programme were of her own arrangement, and the excellence of these marked her as an artist possessing not only correct detail in performance but as a musician with imagination and understanding. At the conclusion the audience sang “Auld Lang Syne.” Mr Heughan expressed his thanks to the Wanganui Pipe Band for their assistance. An entirely different Tirncrrammc will bo rendered to-night and entertainment of the best is in store for all who attend, irrespective of class, creed or nationality.