MUSIC IN ENGLAND

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20422, 12 February 1938, Page 15 (Supplement)

MUSIC IN ENGLAND

LAURI KENNEDY’S VIEWS Interesting personalities on the Monterey were Lauri Kennedy (’cellist) and Mrs Kennedy 'pianist), on their way to give recitals for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Mr Kennedy told me that orchestral playing in England had reached a very high standard. The 8.8. C. Orchestra he would rank as the finest symphonic body in the world. For certain composers and certain performances four other orchestras could be grouped with it. These were the Philadelphia Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the New York Philhar-monic-Symphony, and the Berlin Philharmonic. But the 8.8. C. players could give a magnificent account of themselves in any music, old or new. When Arturo Tosrannini began to prepare his concerts with them a year ago that great conductor declared that hardly any rehearsal was necessary. Sibelius’s “En Saga” he ran through once, then closed the score and said: “It is all right.” Tosrannini had done that with no other orchestra in the world. Confidence and Versatility The 8.8. C. Orchestra, said Mr Kennedy. had gained its confidence and versatility through having to give a concert every night for eight weeks, with only one rehearsal for each concert during the .promenade season. This meant that the players had to go into a sort of “musical gaol” during the period; for they had no time for anything but their work, their meals and their night’s sleep. But they all enjoyed It, and no one more than Sir Henry Wood, who, in spite of his age by the calendar, seemed to grow younger every year. It was interesting to watch the attendances at the “Proms.” and to see how public taste veered. Bach retained his popularity. A little while ago Wagner had enjoyed a great vogue, but that seemed to be waning. The latest composer lo draw the mul - titude was JJrahms. “One-Composer Evenings” “I don’t agree with these one-com-poser evenings,” said Mr Kennedy. “There is no one whose style can exhibit itself for two and a half hours on the concert platform without becoming monotonous. Bach—yes; if he is supremely well played. But that level is almost impossible to sustain throughout a whole concert; and second-best Bach begins after a time to sound like a sewing machine. “Personally, if I must hear only one composer In an evening. I had rather il were Brahms. He is the greatest of all. Beethoven is grand. He Is profound. But the form in which he expresses his musical ideas has become dated. The development sections In the Beethoven symphonies, for instance, have a conventional sound to twentieth-century ears.”