THE EVENING CONCERT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1597, 14 November 1912, Page 6

THE EVENING CONCERT.

■ ■ REMAEKS BY THB JUDGES, The evening's programme Was contributed to by the Recalls" of the- day/a ■competitions -(as. specified, above), witn the addition of three other items' of more than passing note. The humorous quar-, fet, teferred to as the only etertew, was tne Orpheus- Quartet ol WeUuigton (Messrs. Phipps,- Fletcher il wtight, and 1 -Hutton), who sang The TcacUor and. the Tack" very well indeed. Not only were they genuinely humorous, bat then sinyinz was capitally balanced, and they dressed and -acted th* Quartrt most ap.propriatel'y. Th« brass quartet trom- the UVamway6 Band (two cornets, * horn, and euphonium) played the Weber quartet, "Ssnctus," fairly well. The euphonium part was particularly w»ll played,.. but thtre was a lack of brilliancy in the cornets. TJl* entertainment concluded with the breezy comedietta, "Interruption," being the plight of a lover endeavouring to. work up to a proposal of marriage -whilst bothered at frequent intervals by brusque messages from the "cabby" outside, whose fare ne had been unable to pay. Mr. J. Cnlford Bell, as the lover, proved himself to b«* quite a capaWo comedian, Who was able to keep the fun going in spite of the rather lackadaisical ideas of his partner. Miss Betty Purdomi as a very pert, quick-witted maid, was quite excellent. Fair Juliets and their Critic Aβ is" usual, the pronouncements of the judges, delivered prior to tho comedietta, were eagerly awaited by the audience, and as a whole gave entire satisfaction. Mr, J. I'. 'Montague, judgo of elocution, referring to the . contest piece—'"JJhe Potion Scene," from "Borneo and Juliet" —said that the first prize-winner',- Miss Puvdoiß, began rather slowly. She bad not-got a very good voice, and some Of her gestures were not Very good—rather awkward. Yftt she was sincere, and had a iine sense of the music of ShakesjieaTu. She finished too calmly—by the .'time the end of the scene is reached Juliet has . worked herself into a state of hysteria. Nearly all the competitors missed that point—they all finished too calmly and deliberately. The second, prize-winner (Miss Blanohard) did not give nearly so good a performance as she did in the morning. She was much, too slow and deliberate, The third prize-winner (Miss Churohili) was also not up to her performance givenearlier in tho day. She was; much too deliberate throughout. She had ; however, a charming voice—tho' best ■■ voice of tho three recalled. He also commended the performances of three others—Misses Brown and Pitrie (who received 13G points each). Miss Petrie gave n. very interesting rorfornv mice, but spoilt her chances by over-act-ing, running about the stage too much, and introducing- "properties," which .were quite unnecessary. , . Tho third was Miss ' i?ix (130 points), who was very sweet, hut not quite effective. She would do'better with more osperionce. ■ ■ Of Singers and Players. Mr. Sidney Wolf said that:'the children in Ckiss ) wro lactone in lioiv-otoi of iftJejjjMttttioß* ftiid bada't aw idea « wU&tU

a scherio was. It was, of course, a joke (in music). The first prize was awarded to Miss May Evatt, who was best both morning ana evening. The seconds w<*io Miss Ivy Gilbert and Mastor Shortt, and | the thii-d, Miss Rita Smith. Mr. Wolf explained that his maximum was 150 points. Regarding the singing, the fault 3 were ! wants of breath control and tone colour. Anyone knows that tono colour can bb produced—it should be trained into the Student from the earliest Stages when aequiriiv? technique. In tho mezzos there was little difference in the singing. There was too great an attempt at exhibiting technique-, and U that were shown th« whole art is gone, just as a carpenter when he shows a joint exhibits bad workmanship. Wo wanted good music, and that meant good art. Of the contraltos h« m«ntionecl that none showed a tono of regret (in Mozart's "Adieu"). Some Sing it an JtnHnn, but they should not eins in Italian unless they could think in Italian, and none of them 'hart -suit; tlje son? as an Italian would hive done. jjespcctinp:. the humorous Quartet, .the judge said it was tho most musical performance he had heard so far (in the competitions). Ho had not heard _ tuo voices separately, but' it .was . musical., humorous, and well balanced. (Loud applause.) TO-DAY'S PROGRAMME. To-day's programme ■ will include the following, classes:—9.3o a.m., piano .solo (under 15); 11.30 a.m., soprano solo; 12,30 p.m., boys' song; 2 p.m., sacred soio; 1.20 p.m., violin solo; 9.30 a.m., sight reading '{under 16); 10.15 a.m., recitation (boys under 16); 2 p.m., dramatic recital.