CHAMBER MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 102, 27 October 1933, Page 3

CHAMBER MUSIC

A FINE CONCERT

The chamber music concert given at the Town Hall last evening proved to bo an event of exceptional artistic interest. The performers were Miss Ava Symons (violin), Mr. George Ellwood ('cello), and Mr. Gordon Short (pianoforte), heard in three trios; and with Mr. Wm. McLean (second violin) and Mrs. Frieda Meier (viola) in a quartet of . Debussy. The concert began with Beethoven's trio in D minor (Op. 70, No. 1), a glorious work in three movements, allegro vivace, largo and presto, the first and third of, which serve to throw into high relief the strange, mysterious character of. the largo, really the precious gem to which the allegro and presto serve, as it were,, for the ornate 22 carat setting. The work is one that calls for deep insight and a fine artistic appreciation of its character, in addition to the great technical' difficulties that must be overcome if its sharply contrasting moods of the three movements are to be adequately expressed and its particular atmosphere preserved. The performers gave a dignified, eloquent, and reverent interpretation' of the work, and held their audience'spellbound from the lively opening, during the progress of • the sombre largo, and until the very last'notes'of the exhilarating presto. There was. no doubt left in the minds of those present, if the applause was as true as it seemed, of the high artistic achievement of the players in this great and beautiful work. ' The Debussy string quartet was of the stuff from which dreams are made, and in sharp if not violent contrast with the first number of the programme,, as above-men-tioned. It is in four movements, anime, scherzo, andantino, and' finale. The first and second movements, to the ear unaccustomed to Debussy, and especially immediatey after hearing the Beethoven trio, seem incoherent, mixed, confused (as dreams often are), nevertheless the trained musician discerns in them form and rhythm finely balanced. What pictures these and the slow movement, the andantino, summon from the vasty deeps_ of listeners imaginations it would be interesting to know; but here again, as in the whole work, there is a suggestion of-brief jour^ neyings in that region ■ aptly described as "a traversla realite."; .Debussy •seemed to have opened the gates to it, aftd the talented players of his quartet to have acted as personal conductors of all disposed to enter. There followed two other trios—for violin, 'cello, and pianoforte—the first by Chausson, .in four movements, anime, scherzo, andante, and finale, a work esseutially French in feeling and; idiom— and Debussy was a Frenchman. The Chausson trio is remarkable not only- for its fluency and melodiousness, but it also makes a strong appeal to musicians, they aver, with its perfect workmanship and the scope it affords for each instrument to show to advantage. To the musically unlearned this trio,and; its performance was evidently, a sheer delight, judging by the fervour of its reception last night. The third and last trio was, by Cassado, ■ a Spaniard, a work of today, and emphatically Spanish, with an unmistakably Moorish element in it. This trio is in three movements, allegro, barbaric melody, and a short recitative followed by a rondo. It was played with a full sense of its wild and in parts, ferocious character. Some may have discerned in the allegro all the colour, hubbub, and move; ment of -a crowded street in' the East, every sense (but that of smell) being called into play by the suggestive character of the music. The players themselves entered wholeheartedly into the spirit of the work and seemingly made light of its great executive demands. At the close the artists were called and recalled, and the utmost enthusiasm characterised the applause. The occasion, too, was the farewell appearance of Mr. George Ellwood, the 'cellist of'the trio, who has done so much, individually and associated with other artists, for the best in music in Wellington.