APOLLO SINGERS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 83, 5 October 1931, Page 3

APOLLO SINGERS

A CAPABLE CHOIR

A -wide and distinctly ambitious Held was explored by the Apollo Singers on Saturday night with' a gratifying measure of success. The Concert Chamber of the Town Hall showed very few vacant seats, nnd Mr. 11. Temple White and his capable choir have every reason to be satisfied with the second concert of the present season. At each snccessive i concert the Apollo Singers have shown au improvement, which is as it should be, and Saturday night's concert was no exception. Balance and tone are well marked, and the choir can produce the requisite volume when called upon. After the customary two verses of the National Anthem, the old favourite, "Drake's Drum" (Percy Fletcher's arrangement of the ColeridgeTaylor setting), was sung with gusto. Then followed the appealing* "In This Hour of Softened Splendour" (Ciro PinBUti), part of which had to»be repeated. After a rest, tho Apollo Singers were heard to advantage in "Farewell" (Johannes Brahms) and a Cursch Buhren arrangement of Schumann's "Dreaming," both being very artistically sung. Very well sung was the always acceptable "0 Peaceful Night" (Edward German), and at the end of the first half of the programme came the customary humorous item. This was "The Musical Trust" (Clokey), and it is difficult to know whether the choir, the two pianists, or the audience enjoyed it most. As far as could be gathered, for an otherwise full and informative programme omitted to give the words, it details how an impecunious player of a yellow flute- combined forces with other impecunious players of various instruments. The second half of the programme contained several items which would be beyond the powers of a less capable choir than the Apollo Singers. The first of these was Grieg's "Ballad of Olav Trygvason." This is a typically Grieg setting of the Bjornson poem, "The Sighting of Land," scored for male chorus, baritone solo, and orchestra. It was very well done by the Apollo Singers, the soloist beiDg Mr. W. Fielding, and Mr. Ernest Jenner at the piano an efficient substitute for the orchestra. The difficult number, Sir Edward Elgar's "The Reveille" (words by Bret Harte) was given with a considerable measure of success. Charming in spite of its "sweet sentimentality" was the choir's singing of Robertson's Irish Cradle Song, "Maureen," the beautifully clear mezzo-soprano voice of Miss Dorothy Sawyer blending most harmoniously with the male voices. This was enthusiastically encored. An old friend, "Greeting to Spring" (a Hans Lichter arrangement of the famous Strauss waltz), concluded the Apollo Singers' part of the programme. Two vocal soloists (members of the choir) gave their companions intervals for rest. These were Mr. J. M. Caldwell and Mr. E. K. Rishworth. The former, a bass singer, contributed Elgar's "The Pipes of Pan," and the latter's tenor voice was eminently suited by a couple of songs from Liza Lehmann's cycle, "In a Persian Garden." Both soloists were; vociferously encored, the former responding with "Son of Mine" and the latter with "Ichabod." Mr. Ernest Jenner was a host in himself. Besides accompanying when necessary, he figured twice on the programme with pianoforte solos, and again proved himself to be one of the most delightful pianists in Wellington., His first offering was Moszkowski's "Les "Vagues," a descriptive study of the restless sea, with a constant surge of bass arpeggios rolling under the higher-lying flow of melody. A Grieg "Nocturne" was a choice encore to this. Later, Mr. Jenner again delighted the audience with York Bowen's "Concert Study" in G Flat, a brilliant early work, which is hardly typical of the composer's maturer style. It was interestingly played, however, and the pianist was as before - insistently encored. ■