McCORMACK’S ART

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 50, 16 December 1925, Page 43

McCORMACK’S ART

WHAT SOME CRITICS LEARNED FROM HIS RECENT TOUR. Mr. John McCormack left England on Saturday, and before he returns to us will have been round the world (says the Universe, for October 9). After his American engagements he is going to the Far East, and will make for the first time a concert tour in Japan. After his Albert Hall concert he made one or two appearances in the provinces, and his visit to Birmingham brought some interesting tributes. The Town Hall, our own correspondent writes, was crowded to overflowing, and in response to insistent clamor Mr. McCormack sang many extra songs. The Post critic remarks that “the surprise of the concert lay in the •discovery of a vocal ‘ celebrity ’ entirely free from the tricks or ‘ stunts ’ through which celebrity is generally attained. Were we taken aback somewhat when the first group offered no adventures on the high C’s, no displays of fervor indiscriminately applied? Perhaps so; Mr. McCormack’s quality took time, not to make itself manifest, but to make its way with his listeners.” In like manner, the Mail: “Most people, no doubt, expected to be given an exposition of vocalism of the type that tenor celebrities have unfortunately made too familiar. What they got instead was so surprising that some rapid mental readjustment was necessary before the singer could be appreciated for what he really was.” As we have said before, it is an education to hear John McCormack sing, precisely because the absence of “stunts” connotes a deeply-thought and laboriously-attained art. Foi\ instance, breath-control, with the wonderful phrasing it renders possible, is a matter of sheer conscientious hard work. As he himself said to us once, you must get the goods before you can deliver them, and before you can get them you must work for them. Anyone with requisite vocal organ can get on to a high A (after taking a good breath on purpose), and proceed to bellow

upon-it. To phrase the last bars of: '-Waif 'deseinsamkeit" properly is quite another matter. What the amateur singer listening to'McCormack learns is to go for the middle of the note, for the contour of the musical line, for the inside of the song, all the time, ami for nothing else. -" 1 Iff