ORGAN RECITAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2415, 22 March 1915, Page 7

ORGAN RECITAL

-Mr. Bernard F. Page's unswerving allegiance to his ideals, and his invincible determination to establish a taste and appreciation for the beautiful in music are meeting with increasing support from the public, # Saturday night's programme was judiciously selected. It contained a reasonable number of classical and a fair number of the lighter compositions, chosen with due regard to the musical appreciation oihis audience.- The Concerto in D Minor, by W. F. Bach', was the opening number, followed by Claussman's "Pastorale," presented for the first time. The creative powers of this composer have been apparently somewhat influenced by Cesar Franck. Neverthe- 1 less, the "Pastorale" has intrinsic charrn. The encore number was aii "Elegie," by the same composer. Tschaikovsky was represented by the .'Elegy No. 2" in G, for strings; the Russian, Glazounov, by the ■ "Prelude and Fugue in D Major." In this work the composer differs from his contemporary writers, inasmuch as he shows a preference for the pure classical forms in music. It is replete with melodic beauty and warm harmonic colouring. Mr. Page was in line form, and in his interpretation he infused a judicious amount of tone colouring. The air and variations upon a well-known theme of Handel's, in a new arrangement by that great modern master of organ music, Karg-Elert, was much appreciated, and Mr. Pajje had to repeat the last portion to satisfy his hearers. The popular "Peer Gynt Suite" of Grieg's was the last item, of which "Morning" was preferred for the extreme simplicj ity and lyric beauty of its melody.