MUSIC

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2896, 7 October 1916, Page 13

MUSIC

__ 0 - (By ."Treble-Clef.")

Orchestral Concsrt. Last Sunday's CQncorfc by the Professional Orchestra was little short or a musical feast. It struck ma that the programme had-not been quite so well rehearsed as tliat of the previous concert-, a lack of confidence and unanimity in bowing among the strings exl>osed a ragged edge or a thin patch hero and there, but on tho whole the concert was thoroughly enjoyable. As usual the programme was well selected. I' thought Sir. ploy was rather moro lackadaisical than''usual, and that it-was reflected in tli© "Aida/ inarch. I am quite certain. Conductors, like artists, must he in the mood to produce tho best results; they must have their moments, must be creative as well as instructive in oonveying tho message of the oomposer; otherwise a metronome could do the work. Tho uolclmark ballet suite asks for further acquaintance. To me the musio was queer, outre, with, something of a strain for an effect that was not. I lilted the slow movement best, in which Mr. Frank Johnston played tho 'cello solo very nicely. The Debussy fragment was delightfully ear-tickling and full of glancing sunbeams.of melody. Its evanescent charm and dainty form arrested tho senses pleasantly. Debussy is the Oscar Wilde of music— his brilliant kaleidoscopic harmonies tickle tho ear. as Wildo s epigrams.do the mind) but neither will stand analysis. Schubert's -''Serenade", was very beautifully played, the melody falling to the solo trumpet. Tho finest number on the programme was the "Ballade" of Coleridge Taylor, the late lamented composer of "Hiawatha." This is a magnificent bit of writing, that to my mind proves that England lost her foremost composer when this man died. I doubt very much- if Elgar has written anything so fine as this "Ballade," ft'hioh is all too -insignificant a term, Eor tho work is moro than au extended

lyric composition. It is a mighty picoe of orchestral writing, symphonic in character if not in form, that grips the attention at once and holds it enslaved to the last har. It is wonderfully moodful in, the changes that the composer rings in colouring the central theme. He mixes his tone pigments with such resource that there is seemingly little ;exact repetition in the combinations used. ' The > "Tanniiauser" overture, with its trying sustained work for the strings, concluded tiio concert. The brass was excellent in this number, but tho string section began to tire and worn thin towards the end. Henri Koivalski Dead. Tho nows of the death of M. Henri Kowalski was received by this week's mail from France. Tho announcement was sent to M. Aengenheyster by his daughter in Paris. The brilliant French pianist was about to leave the French capital to undertake a Canadian concert tour when he fell ill. He was buried at Montmartre. Henri Kowalski was born in Paris in 1841. Ho was a pupil of Marmoutel (pianoforte) and Keber (composition). He occupied a conspicuous place in Sydney's: musical activities,, for-about. a : decade in the 'eighties and 'nineties. "Though French by birth and education, his ancestors wore on one sldo Polish; and the other Irish. He was a chorister at tho Madeleine on tho occasion of tho marriage ol : Louis Napoleon. As a pianist, ho played at many European courts, and was decorated for his services in Paris, in organising concerts for various necessities arising out of the Prussian invasion in 1370. Five years later he toured The States, and reached Sydney ten years later.

Is Debussy Like an Insect? Ernest Nowman declares in an English periodical that Debussy has passed from the position of leader of tie team to that of a mere drag on the coach. "To-day ho is not even an 'advanced' composer in any sense whatever. The wnolo difficulty with him now is_ that ho is simply incapable of advancing; with his incessant exploitation of a few formulae that have long ceased to bo novelties and become mere oddities, he reminds ns of nothing so much as an insect on a card, with a pin through it. "So long as life is m it it can turn round and round, hut it cannot advance. , Muoli the same may be said of Ravel, though lie is still young enough to develop a new style. Nono of the latest Frenchmen writes music that is in the slightest degreo too 'advanced' for any real musician to understand. "In Russia, which is musically the most interesting country in Europo at present, there is a school that tries to be 'advanced' in the wrong. way, and, of course, achieves in the'ond nothing more than oddity. As this oddity consists mainly in the • manipulation of spicy now harmonies, it follows that any ono can make just about the same effect with it as any_ one olse; and the work of the school in general, instead of exhibiting the originality its members desire, merely impresses one with its uniformity."

Notes. ■'Paul Dufault's visit to Brisbane," writes a contemporary, "lias not been an unmixed blessing. All sorts and conditions of men have been trying to sing Harriet Ware's 'Littlo Boat,' but invariably make a coal-hulk or a Dre»&ioughs out of it. If they would only sink instead of sing the littlo boat there would be a a end .of tho trouble."