TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14980, 29 May 1914, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Music or ?

However much the public may join with the critics in condemning the follies of Futurism, there is no doubt that a debt of thanks is owing to the exponents of that extraordinary movement for contributing in such large measure to tho gaiety of life.s Laughter is a good tonic,' and perhaps some London physicians, realising this, have been advising their "run-down" patients to go to the Steiuway Hall and hear M. Leo Ornstein, the first really and truly Futurist pianist and composer to assault tho ears of tho metropolis. "Seldom has the concert hall rung with such hearty laughter," says i tho writer of one account ,of M. I Ornstein's first performance. As for the critics, they availed themselves liberally of this excellent opportunity to be funny. The "Morning Post" likened M. Ornstein's music to that of "an infant hammering the nfftes of the piano with its fists, while a cat walked up and down the keyboard." "The Times" declared that a housemaid with a duster couid have done as well, while the i "Daily Mail" described the young composer as "assaulting tho instrument with every appearance of concentrated «hatred." Another critic wondered "whether the weird noises in which he painted his 'Two Impressions of Notre-. Damo , were intended to represent tho famous gargoyles or wcro tho direct inspiration of a gumboil. .. ." These

wero somo of tho impressions produced on tho critics by M. Omstein's first recital, and tho concert-going public so far agreed with them that at tho next performance it unanimously and enthusiastically boohed, hissed, and groaned its disapprobation. The occasion was almost a unique one in tho annals of music, and one has to go back' to the days when "Tannhiiuscr" was hooted and whistled down at Paris for anything similar. M. Ornstein himself is q\iite frank about the dreadful character of his music. "1 thought I had gone mad myself," he admitted in ah explanatory article in a London paper, "when one morning I woke up hearing tho most curious chords. They wens so extraordinary that I was completely baißed. At first they were like dreadful discords, but they kept on coming, and after four months they seemed no more dreadful, but the most natural sounds. I realised that my brain and emotions had gouc faster than my ears —they were not ready to grasp what my feelings and my brain conceived. That is what is tho matter with those who listen to ruy music." It should be added that the critics, in their quieter moments, admit that M. Ornstein's technique and range of expression are "wonderful."

A "Fighting Parson." The "fighting parson" is a very real type in these days. -ac of the g.enus exiscs in Australia, in the person of tho Key. i'\ Hultor. Sams, some of whoso adveu-

twos "'out west" are described by a writer in tho Sydney "Sun." Mr Sams belongs to the St. Andrew's Brotherhood, whoso headquarters are at Longreach. Every man in this brotherhood has some sort of attainment that :s likely to make him popular with tho class of men ho has to meet iv the ebenring-sheds and the little bush towns. Mr Sams's particular accomplishment is boxing. "Wherever ho has gone —and he has travelled many thousands of miles, going a.s much as 1500 miles in one journey alone —ho has always had with him as his equipment a Bible, a prayer-book,'and a set of boxinggloves. "When ho visited a country shearing-shed, the men made- two stipulations, the first being that his sermon should not exceed a quarter of an hour in duration, the second that ho fchould "put up his mauleys'" against the best man in the shed. These stipulations he never shirked, except ouco when a flooded rivor washed away the 'fighting parson's" equipment—Bible, prayer-book, gloves and all. On this ocra.-ion the boxing match was cancelled, and by a magnanimous concession on the part of his hosts, the sermon was permitted to occupy zhe bpaco of half an hour. The aborigines look on Mr Sams a.s a hero, and on one occasion he was the honoured guest at a corroboree held in his honour. Many are tho stones told in "out. west' , at::tlement< of how hn overthrew the local champion, who thereupon rose a reformed man. threatening to "havo a piece" of anyone who did not. give freely when the hat went round tor tho Church. Mr Sams is by no means a neophyte at tho game. He possesses nineteen medals, and has won two light-weight and two welter-weight championships. He regards the gloves as a means to an end. "I have found/ he says, "that my muscle has helped mc to reach men's hearts. 1 hope J have dono good."