SOUSA'S BAND.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1210, 19 August 1911, Page 6

SOUSA'S BAND.

The glad riot of music was continued at the Town Hall yesterday by fcousa and his famous band. The more one sees 01 Sousa the more one is forced to admire the man and the band under his control. So perfect is tlie sympathy between them that he does not need to drive <"■«"£ them bv heated appeals, he rather holds them with silken reins, tlie least touch to which means the response lie desires. Hks methods are born of perfect conhdence in thoso under him. yesterday afternoon's performance was brim lull ot interest. There is not a great deal of change in the broad treatment afforded Goldwark's rather colourless overture, "Spring." which needs the strings to giye it that lightness, delicacy, and variety which should be associated with the spirit of such a composition. Tbo band was a.'.iin very successful in Sousa s own popular suite, "Looking Upward. .Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance was played with dignity and martial grandeur, uplifting to hear. The second half opened with the humorous conceit Ihe Band Came Back," now so popular with Wellington audiences, and in response to an encore "Tlie Blue Danube" waltz was played. "The Angrlns" movement from Massenet's "Scenes Picturesque" was quite one of-the finest numbers the Band has given. Sousa marches were played in abundance, and were as welcome as.flowers-: in-the. spring. ■ Miss.. Virginia, Boot S!ing : Batten's'"Spnh'? 'Morn-'-against, an accompaniment which was altogether too loud. Many of tho singer's notes were completely, lost owing to the aggressiveness of tlio band. The same fault, which coiild be very easily remedied, was in evidence during tho "Obertass'' mazurka, of Wiaaiawski, played by Miss Nicoliuo Zedeler.■'-■ ...

■-.' Tho largest audience of the season was present last evening. Not only, was it the largest but it was the- most enthusiastic, and after some of tUc fcoiisa compositions, .which., aru. in. jusai' favour, sheers were substitutetl for applause, in severdtv ; :instnnci;'s. v "'• A '-very well diversi-■iied-range; of composers was included in tho.programme. Lassen's overture "Tliucomposition'which mak«s an exhausting'domand upon the full band, has a fino'synipkonio breadth, and streams with. ■■.' melody . lavishly orchestrated, ftousa's claiin to.be a composer of.descriptive music -is ;more than-justified in his symphonic poem "The Ghariot Eaco," the idea of. which is taken from "Bon Har." A trumpet blast, the scurry of preparation • conveyed by agitation 'among the basses, and,an occasional' shriek from a piccolo; another trumpet blast—crash— the gates aro open, and forth dash tho chariots... On, on they fly to: the clatter of the, maddened' horses' ■ hoofs (cleverly imitated, with a couple of coconut shells cut .in.half),': as' tho : race progresses a grand crescendo is piled up and up, and t0..-..a final crash tho race, is over. The classical,-item last-evening was Bach's "Grand .Chorale and Fugue," which to riiaiiy.wiia a, rich..dcl.ighu Tht< number opens'- softly with tho wood-winds only—a quiet stately measure, with a slight fxigrual • embellishment, which .broadens and swells up to the chorale, a fdeypfcjonal. movement' blazed by the troraibones, horns, and trumpets in magnificent '.?tafe*«E! 1 JL s . is followed by the .fugue, led %««thWwbcKl-whuLs'amd'']O-ined later by :tho brasses, which work up in perfect 'order .to. an.impressive- finale characteristic of the composer. Lehar's wild Russian peasant <lahce, "Kokuska," a bizarre work .breathing tho spirit of the murky Slav peasant, was admirably-played. Other numbers played were tho medley, "Plantation Songs and Dances" (Clarke), "The Baud Came Back," the "Jc-lly Fellows" waltz, "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" and a crop of Souja marches.,, Miss Virginia Boot sanjr< Willeby's "Soldier, Take My' Hear- With You," which is not so attractive or tuneful as is tho 1151131" ran of that composer's so-ngs. "The-Goose Girl" was much better, though the clacker evidently had the idea that he'ivas.tho soloist. Miss Xicolino Zedoler played Hubay's vivid "Scene do la Czardas" with plenty of fire and understanding. Hor tone will broaden with the years.

This afternoon ' the prolamine will include the overture, "Grand Festival" (Leutner), the tone poem, "The- Old Cloister Clock" (Kunkel), tho Rubinstein nocturne, "Kamonnoi Ostrow," and the prelude to Act 111 of "Lohengrin" (Wagner). The last performance will.he given this evening, when among other mimhers the band will play the prelude to HunkerdiDck's "Hansel and Gretel," Bizet's "L'Arlesienne" suite, Siegfried's death from ■"Getterdammorung" (Wagner'i, and tho overture to iflatow's "Stradolla."