A SONG FEAST.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1400, 28 March 1912, Page 6

A SONG FEAST.

HAMILTON lIODGES'S RECITAL. "Soft words, with noihing in them, make a song," wrote Waller, but what Waller thought in his day does not do for the twentieth century. The cuncertlover demands songs' with something in tho words, and more often than not he gets the:n. Not that there arc not plenty of songs written to-day with nothing in them. Unfortunately inanities in songs, like tho poor, are always with 11s. .Air. Hamilton Hodges'one knows to have a cultivated taste, and n natural antipathy to musical banalities of the Waller cult. In his selection of programme numbers for tho song recital at the Concert Chamber last evening, he allowed the dross to go by, and gave a crowded audience a tasto of songs which aro really worth while. He was in first-rate form vocally, save for that slight huskiness which those who know the singer have come to recogniso is native to the niau. His first asset is his power of interpretation, llis voice is not impeccable. He occasionally shouts unmusically in the high register, and strains in pitching certain nctes when tiie word concerned is uncongenial to ail open production. Still, 'overshadowing these faults is his interpretative faculty, and an abundance of temperament that kindles admiration, llis recital last evening was most successful. It commenccd with two of Schubert's songs, "Ihr Bild" and "Wohin," charming songs of dainty conception, saing with a nice appreciation or the sentiment of the graceful lyrics. Richard Strauss, the inexplicable, was represented by two songs,

"Morgan" ("To-morrow") and "Du Meines Herzens Kronenlciu" /"Pride of My Heart, its Crown and Joy"). A beautiful little song was "L'Oiscau S'Knvole" ("The Hird See Yonder"), from Mosse's "Paul ct Yirginie." Tho singer scored distinctly in Godard's dramatic song, "Lc Yoyagcur," sung in French. The incursion into the field of American composition was a delightful one. It opened with "Sometimes," by Margaret liuthven-Lc.ng, a fragment with a bewitching refrain. Whelpley's "The Nightingale has a Lyre of Gold" is a song of joy with which Mr. Hodges, with his characteristic exuberance, took'slight liberties, and in exerting tli? full voice lost quality. Ho was, however, wholly admirable in Arthur I'oote's enchanting sung, "Onco at the Angelus," sung with tender reverence in a pretty half-voice. Tho accompaniment to this song is one of the chief charms. Edward M'Dowell's "The Swan Bent Low to the Lilv" proved to lib v. chaste little" idyll in tons, and was rapturously Tcceivcd. "At Parting," by Clayton Johns, is declamatory and conventional, yet distinctly pleasing. Even .after this exhausting budget the audience demanded an encore. and were given "I Hear "l'ou Culling Me,',' which was not one of the singer's best efforts. Mr. liodgcs's final appearance was in Somervell's gladdening song-cycle ".Maud." written round Tennyson's verses, a niusicianly set of songs that should become popular with lovers of artistic song. _ The best of them were "0 Let the Solid Ground," "Jiirds in tho High Ciai'dcn," "Come Into the Garden, Maud" (written delightfully in the waltz brilliant style). "Dead, Long Ago" (grimly comical). "0 That 'Twcre Possible." and ".My Life Has Crept So Long." After this beautiful cycle of song the encore ballad, "A Song of Sleep/' sounded tawdry and commonplace. Mr. Hodges was assisted by .Mr. Baxter linekley, the gifted pianist, whose brilliant playing lias (he hall mark of virfuositv. TTe played Chopin's "Fanf-isie in F Minor," a merry "Scherzo" by Godard. rich in chromatic, runs in chords, S?a:ubafi's solemn "Xcnia," and MncDowell's sH'.vv "Polonaise," which was doubly encored, one of the extra numbers being the same composer's "Elude." .Mr=. Ernest IT. Ouerce's accompaniments added considerably to the clinrpi of what «ns an elevating and altogether enjoyable recilal.