NEW WORK BY VAUGHAN WILLIAMS.

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 57, 4 September 1926, Page 15

NEW WORK BY VAUGHAN WILLIAMS.

On Wednesday, 9th June, at the Central Hall, Westminster, London, we heard the first performance of a now oratorio, "Sancta Civitas," by Vau ghan Williams. It was given by the Bach Choir, under the direction of the composer, who is also their conductor. The work is for soli, chorus, and orchestra. It is very modern, very difficult, and unequal in merit. Vaughan Williams, who is a big man physically, and musically, is not, what one could call a great conductor, but he has warmth and, of course, musical undetstanding, and his choir seemed to iovc him and his work. Here, as in most ol the orchestral work we have heard hero so far, there appeared to be a want of rehearsal. The orchestral playing was patchy, crude, and not always m tune, or even unanimous. The choir was not up to the work, although this choir has a great reputation, and was tho first to perform Bach's B Minor Mass in England fifty years ago. ' It* singing on this occasion was out ol tune in places, thin, and of poor quaJity comparatively. The work was beyond them at times. The very high notes, of which there are many, the modern harmony, and the awkward intervals needed better material, or mor» rehearsal before anything like a finished performance could be obtained. Of course it may be said that tho composer was at fault and wrote impossJbilities for the choir. One of our part/ of Australians had been "primed up" before the work took place. He was told that it was a "great work, an epoch-making work, and that, believo me, "it was all right." Well, we all listened to the work attentively, and watched the audience to see what effect this modern music made on them. After it was all over we "had it out" with one another. There was no "free fight" but things looked bad at one moment, and at the finish we all agreed to differ.