MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 265, 1 August 1908, Page 12

MUSIC.

[Bx Tmsble Clef.] Tha Mallinsons. The song recitalists, Mr. Albert Malliuson and his wife (Majjame Anila Steiuhauer) are approaching Wellington from the north, and the charm of their music-making will be pleasurably anticipated by lovers of: refined song., Concert-giving in Now Zealand is not a very encouraging business, unless the company includes a star of world-wide celebrity,- and even then it i is a case of billing them liko a circus before the management can bo quite cortain of a return for their enterprise. There aro concert artists who can command audiences, namely, Paderowski, Mdmo. Clara Butt, Melba, Ada Crossley, Mark Hambounr, and Antonia Dolores, but even such well-known and . highly 1 talented people as those mentioned have to be "managed" to produce a return commensurate with their position in the world of song. Marie Hall failed, that splendid artist Andrew Black, and with him' l'remyslav (a delightful violinist) could' not " mako hay " in this country. , Heerma n played to . rows of empty benches, and there was no particularly wild rush 011 the part of tho public to hear tlio great Kubelik, and if-that is tho caso, what can lesser lights expect in this benighted country—whero every town boasts of being musical with little or no claim to be considered vory '"tuny." The Wellington Choral Society gave an excellent concert recently iu tho Town Hall—as good a concert, perhaps, as could bo arranged locally— yet the array of empty scats was overwhelming. It is all very depressing. , >

. But to return to tho Mallinsons, who are really talontcd people. Mr! Mallinson . and his wife (a noted Dullish soprano) have: appeared on various Occasions Defore Her Majesty' at Buckingham Palace. ' Her Majesty ;s keenly interested in this modern English i composer, and has often expressed herself as delighted with: both Mr.. Mallins'on-s songs and the_ charming and artistic inter-, pretations of his wife. "Slow, Horses Slow," and "Elcanoro" are beautiful songs representative of tho highest art of this celebrated Englishman. His works are numerous, they total over 300, but aro of such a high standard that they aro famous all over tho world. A London paper, referring to a rccent recital of tho Mallinsons, said: "Tho songs aro goins of vocal, art, and the' words have been chosen from tho best sources,. and possess reason as well as rhyme, a combination not always found. Some of tho songs show' rare perception of the best means to secure desired effcct to' a degree; that amounts to genius." The company also includes Mr. William Robyns (basso), Miss Rebo Hussmann (violinist), and Miss Evelyn W r yman (pianist). Hambourg Hints. According to Mark Hambourg every student of tho piano, after ho or she lias passed tho novitiate stage, should begin tho serious businoss of the art with Bach. Thero is no one liko that composer to givo tho. student practice in tho proper control of his hands and lingers. And that is not nil, Bach is, if one may- say so, unexpected. His meaning has always to bo watched for and interpreted so that the mind while ho is being played must always bo the alert, and inattention is out of tho question. At tho sumo time, his passages are not complicated nor vague, and given attention the student may easily grasp tho meaning of the composer. Willi Bach thoroughly mastered tho student should turn his attention to Beethoven's sonatas. That giant among composers must be taken at. lii's proper worth, not as conventionality diotnios nor as an exponent of moro or less toehniually .'difficult works. To do so is to vinliitit tho very principlos of tho composot, and lo bring into disrepute tho interpretation!* of feuch masters as Liszt, Rubenstein, and Itillow. After Bach and Beethoven tho simlmtt may turn from the classic to tho romaiitio school of composers, and devoto himself (o Schubert, Schumann, and Chopin, Schumann especially being useful as a test iu phrasing.