AN ARTIST RETURNS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 117, 20 May 1932, Page 10

AN ARTIST RETURNS

MUSICAL IMPRESSIONS FAMOUS PIANIST INTERVIEWED. Four visits to Australasia within eleven years—that is the record of Mr. Benno Moiseiwitsch, the famous pianist, and is probably a record which has not been achieved by any other artist. The fact that he is now returning on a concert tour of the Dominion after an interval of only four years may be taken as a compliment to the musical public as much as a testimony to the popular appeal of his playing. Interviewed at his hotel yesterday afternoon. Mr. Moiseiwitsch said he always enjoyed playing before New Zealand audiences, states tho Wellington Post. “I am quite proud of the fact,” he added, “that the people of New Zealand and Australia treat me—perhaps 1 should say tolerate me—with such grace. 1 have the pleasantest recollections of my former visits, and after an enjoyable tour of the Commonwealth— I have just arrived from Melbourne— L am keen to commence my New Zealand itinerary and meet again the many friends I have in this part of tho world.”

Mr. Moiseiwitsch said that on the present visit he would be introducing some new features into- his programmes which he hoped would be appreciated. At one of the concerts the whole of the twenty-four Chopin Preludes would be presented at the one sitting, and similarly, at another recital, the twelve Chopin Etudes. “Both those groups,’’ ho remarked, “take about forty minutes to play, and I think it will be found that when they are played as groups their marvellousness as compositions will be brought out in a manner not properly appreciated when they are heard individually or in brackets of three or four. In fact, I think it is the A'nly way they should be played. The twenty-four different moods of the Preludes make a marvellous whole.” The playing of these famous Chopin volumes from cover to cover is quite unusual, and has been instituted by Mr. Moiseiwitsch and other front-rank pianists on the Continent, in England, and in. America in the last year or two with distinct success.”

A Good Mixture. Amongst the works of smaller calibre, of which Mr. Moiseiwitsch alwas gives a choice bracket, he is also to present some material' he has not previously given in Conspicuous among these will be modern works by Nicolas Medtner, whose music he has done a great deal to make known, Prokofieff and Chasins, an American of Russian parentage wnosc • ‘Rush Hours in Hong Kong” novelty was so much enjoyed when first introduced by Mr. Moiseiwitsch on his last visit to Wellington. Among the classics, there will be items from Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, and Liszt. “A good mixture of tho best of tho classics, with a sprinkling of moderns,” has always been Mr. Moiseiwitsch’s aim in preparing his programmes. Notable Modernise. Commenting on the general trend of music to-day, the visiting artist said that very little development had taken place in the art of composition since the reaction shortly after the war against a few revolutionaries who made their appearance at that time. The war had created many unnatural situations, and tho world was still suffering from many of them. It had been etartled by the works of a crop of brilliant young men after the war, but sane musicians had not taken them too seriously, and they had been quickly placed in due perspective. The sensation had now completely subsided, and they had been relegated to their proper place. Ihc last few years had seen a revival of those who really had achieved something notable, and they were thriving. Among ■ these Mr. Moiseiwitsch mentioned Arnold Bax a.s ene of the greatest modern composers, and added that Maurice Ravel still stands supreme in France. Germany and Central and Eastern Europe, notably Czecho-Slovakia (which had proc uced Smetana and Dvorak j were preseating some very promising new composers, among whom ho instanced Krenek and Weiner.