TOWN HALL AND ORGAN RECITALS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 265, 3 August 1920, Page 5

TOWN HALL AND ORGAN RECITALS

Sir,—Wo "have read with considerable interest the articles which have appeared in your journal regarding tho. letting of tho Town Hall, Wellington,'for Saturday nights. Wo notice that Saturday nights are set aside in tho Town Hall for organ recitalG, thus preventing visiting attractions from securing a Saturday night should they so desiVe. Now, we aro quite filling to admit that organ re-' citals should be encouraged in every manner possiblo for the good of the community, but ns tfey ar<! always at hand, and visiting artists of big reputation aro very few and far betwoen, wo contend thai it is to the interests of the community Jliat when a Saturday night is appliej~for amongst other dates for a. visffing star, that tho organ. recital should stand down, or bo given another night. It surely could be no hardship In stioh an event to transfor the organ recital to the Monday or any other day in the week, beeanso it is absolutely essential, when' booking a series of dates for concerts with famous stars, to- include at least ono of'two iJaturdayuights in thu seasons in. tlie respectivo cities to make tho vonture anything like a payand, m consequenco of our being refused tho Saturday nights in Wolb'ngton for the Moiseiwitsch tour, wo have beon reluctantly compelled to niwritdon fto whole of tho New Zealand tour, which wo had arranged for this brilliant artist. Wo deeply TCgrot having to',do this, "because Now Zealand has" beon extremely kind to ug iniits patronage of our efforts to plcaeo them, bat if tho city councils aro going to act in this fashion., then, we very much fear that New Zealand generally is going to bo the loser. We havo also been contemplating arranging a tour of New Zoaland with John Jt'Cormaclc, hut if wo are to be faced with tho same difficulties regarding tho Saturday nights, (hern seems to bo but littlo doubt that wp will also have to abandon his visit to New Zealand. Might wo mnko a suggestion, which is adopted very frequently by tho city councils of Melbourne and Sydney— that shoujd a visiiing attraction apply for at least three dates during Tho week, including a night that might bo set down for an organ recital, then tho date bo given to 1110 visiting attraction, and tho organ' Tecital postponed. Surely music-lovers would prefer this arrangement, to make certain of hearing tho visiting attraction rather than an obstacle 6hould bo placed in tho way such as' has occurred in tho caso of Moiseiwitsch. In some circles there seems to be an antipathy against tho management who introduces high-classed artists, but that is a vory foolish way to look at things,, because tho management presenting theeo big artists has enormous expenses to face, and unless it can arrange a tour on tho very best conditions, is it likely that it is going to face the grave risk of sending them nway from Australia where the oondiiions aro much more certain, and the results much greater. Wo think it would b« wise, therefore, for tho City Council to bo asked to reconsider their decision, becauso so far as we are concerned, it is going to make a very big difference in tho arrangement of our future lours of Now Zealand.— We are. etc., __ J. AND N. TAIT. July 9, 1920.