SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Evening Star, Issue 22446, 17 September 1936, Page 17

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

THOROUGHLY STIMULATING CONCERT DEBUT OF NEW CONDUCTOR Apart altogether from any musical attainments managed in a programme of familiar texture, the twenty-third concert of the Symphony Orchestra last night held notable interest. The orchestra's healthy development has been one of the major achievements of recent years in tho musical life of this city. Any fears of the big Concert Chamber audience that this steady growth might bo interrupted through the recent change of conductors were completely dispelled after noting the effect produced by the presence of Mr Gil Dech. Mr Dech is in every sense a musician of wide experience, eminently equipped to fill this rosjionsiblo position. And he filled it last night with rare distinction. The programme may have courted the popular taste—it included several of the more engaging show pieces—but it was certainly not one of useless trifles too often heard nowadays. The authority that stamped its performance was its outstanding feature, the conductor’s readings being always intelligent and finely elaborated. His was an exhaustive task, even though he had the fullest collaboration of the players, for he is one who sinks himself into his music without restraint. Tho orchestra followed his command implicitly, playing exceptionally cleanly and with barely a departure all evening from pitch and complete accord. The chief offering was the Grieg ‘ Concerto in A Minor.’ There are few pianists here endowed with the technical and interpretative attributes of Mrs H. C. Campbell. She has been a

source of strength as a performer over a lengthy period, and still ranks among the best exponents of her art this city has produced. Mrs Campbell plays with great power, and her virility and facility of expression dominated during her association with the orchestra in this glorious Grieg masterpiece. Towards the end of that great first movement, in which the player brought out the melody marking the principal theme with grand emphasis, the orchestra tended to become sluggish, but otherwise it entirely gripped the mood the soloist so impressively conveyed throughout. The strings, necessarily the foundation of an orchestra, were strongly decisive, and, even if somewhat below strength, were a potent force in every composition of the performance, of which this was the tour de | force. Another arresting representaI tion was Schubert’s ‘ Unfinished Symphony,’ that immortal work of lovely melody. Here the orchestra achieved a vibrant tone, nicely tempered in the passages suggestive of poetic feeling, and alternatively gaily flavoured with the spirit of merriment and freedom. The leadership of the conductor was an inspiration in this imperishable music. The spritelv and sometimes abandoned spirit pervading the overture, ‘ Merry Wives of Windsor,’ by Nicolaai, with which the orchestra opened, was nicely caught. The rhythmic line of the work was easily developed and sustained. Then came a charming cameo expressive of bix moods. They are by that brilliant descriptive composer, Haydn Woods, who, in this suite, has translated his vivid imagination into works of simple charm. Each thought was a delightful tone poem. A too eager member of the brass section spoilt the final effect of the sixth. Liszt’s ‘ Libestraum ’ has a definite melodic appeal, but in this case its enjoyment was tempered through a tendency to play it with an almost syncopated tempo. Grieg was again represented in two Norwegian dances, both being deftly played, the concert concluding with a full-blooded interpretatipn of selections from Puccini’s ‘ La Boheme.’ The soloist was Miss Freda Elmes, who sang so charmingly in the aria contest at the competitions. She submitted herself to a rigorous test in singing Weber’s ‘ Ocean, Thou Mighty Monster,’ and emerged with flying colours. Her purity of tone gave added point to her sense of dramatic intensity, especially in the final exciting passage The orchestra accompanied her. and created a mellow background, the rich surge of the sea being finely suggested. Miss Elmes was also pleasantly heard in a bracket from ‘ Over the Rim of the Moon ’— ‘ A Blackbird’s Song ’ and ‘ Beloved ’ —by Michael Head (who is now in the Dominion). Their piquant appeal captivated the audience, which rightly demanded encores. The accompanist for these numbers was Mrs Clarice Drake, who played with sympathetic skill.