PIANO AND VIOLIN RECITAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 845, 17 June 1910, Page 6

PIANO AND VIOLIN RECITAL.

1 Neither Mr. Horace Hunt, pianist, nor Mr. Herbert Bloy, violinist, are quite strangers to regular concert-goers in Wellington. They are both young, highly talented, anil well trained, and both have high ideals—the spur to success. Last evening, when they collaborated in a recital given in the Concert Chamber, they received the most gratifying compliment that could be paid them by the public—the hall was quite full. The l*t of the concert promoter is not usually aw easy one, and when the promoter is the artist as well, the ordeal becomes doubly trying, but a full house and ready appreciation are splendid palliatives, and encouragers of the best within the artists. Both Messrs. Hunt and Bloy were in. fine form, and the concert -proved highly enjoyable to all present, though the fact could not be disguised that the weight aud length of the programme were felt by both. It would have been better for all concerned if the concert had terminated twenty minutes or half au hour before it did. No disparagement of the quality of the performance should be drawn, from this; indeed; the length of the programme was additional evidence of their powers of endurance and memory (neither artist using a sheet of music in the solo work throughout the evening). Mr. Bloy is a violinist who plays, with a good deal of feeling, bows easily, and maintains a nice round tone, whilst exhibiting a commendable evenness in its character. He played the familiar andante of Mendelssohn's "Concerto" very well indeed, never once, faltering in the breakless cantabile effect ffhich so enhances the beautiful melody. In the finale his tone body suffered in the presto passages rather more than should, have been the case. His encore number, Schumann's "Traumarei," was marked by < a nice infusion of sentiment. Tartini's "Devil's Trill" is a weird composition. It opens in a stately but placid andante mood, but develops "satanic" symptoms quickly in the form of a progression of chromatic trills, through which a four-note melody sings out. The fingering is very intricate in such passages, as it also is in the quaintly-written: •double-stopped phrases. The composition exhibited Mr. Bloy as a skilled executant, and he was heartily applauded forthe effort. "While admiring such works 1 for the opportunity they give virtuosi for displaying their paws they must be and are regarded as "freak", compositions. A more musicianly work was Wieinawski's beautiful "Legends," which Mr. Bloy played ' with compelling synh pathy and delicacy. He was also heard to advantage in Vieuxtemps* "Fantasia Appassionata." Air. Hunt is a solo pianist one always hcars with- pleasure. The light'of understanding glows in his work, and there are a finish and repose in the delicate, "edges" of his playing that give artistic polish—and promise. His playing of Beethoven's 0 Minor "Sonata'' was really admirable. He has the power to storm through the great chorded passages and the digital speed aiid refinement of touch for the delicate tracery of melodious trilliugs which makes such a joyous con- • trast. Mr. Hunt' was also heard, with pleasure .in IvuchriianinofT's brilliant "Prelude" (in 0 sharp minor), a work redolent of Slavonic fireworks on an impressive scale; and in "In Der Nacht" (from Schumann's "Tantasiestucke"). Mr. Hunt played Chopin's "Ballade" in A Hat, with delightful ease and grace, and tvas quite happy in • Moszkowski's "Caprico Kspagnol. ; Miss Allies M. Segrief was tho only vocalist. She has a sweet, small, nicelytutored contralto voice, which was overtaxed in the ' florid cavatina, "Ah, s'estinto ancor mi vuoi" from "Mercadante's '"Donna Caritea/' though suns' with nice expression and with a subdued appreciation of the spirit of the song. As an encore, she sang Mnllinson's fine' song,"0 Thank Me Not," ajid later in the evening, Haydn's "Hark, What I Tell bo Thee." The accompaniments wero played by; Mr.' Hunt.'