LYRIC CHOIR

Evening Star, Issue 23701, 8 October 1940, Page 10

LYRIC CHOIR

MR J. T. LEECH'S SIXTH CONCERT

A long queue of patrons waited for admission outside the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall in such numbers that it was fully 15 minutes after the scheduled time that Mr John T, Leech’s Lyric Choir concert started last night. Justification for both the numbers and the enthusiasm of the audience was found in the performance of the choir, 72 strong, which fully up to its high reputation.

Tho programme—a lengthy one —included eight qhoral numbers, providing an excellent range for the conductor to demon-

strata fully the interpretative accomplishments of his choristers. The Lyric Choir itself has never been heard to better advantage. Mr Leech last night inspired his 72 voices to such purpose that his audience could have felt no sense of disappointment when they left the hall, but only regret that such an absorbing programme had reached its conclusion al] too soon. Miss Sybil Baker, vyho officiated at the piano, proved a nlosi efficient accompanist. Her efforts and those of the assisting artists —Misses Olive and Ellice Nieper (pianists), Edna < M‘Lean (mezzo-soprano), and Billy Loan (elocutionist) —rounded off the entertainment to perfection. To-day, when musicians throughout New Zealand —and visiting artists, too—deplore the fact that the an is rapidly losing ground, such performances as that'of Mr Leech’s Lyric Choir are all tho more appreciated, and could be heard with advantage much more often. Choral numbers were as follows: — 4 In the Springtime,’ by Newton; ‘ Moonlight,’ Eaton Fanning; ’Dedication,’ Robert Franz; ‘The Blacksmith,’ Brahms; ‘The Challenge of Thor,’ from Elgar’s ‘ King Olaf ’; two portions of Gounod's ' Messe Solemielle,’ ‘ Sanctus,’ and ‘ Benqdictus ’; 1 Ilka Blade of Grass,* old Scottish part song; Santley’s ‘Joseph Fili David’; and Thomas Woods’s setting of ‘ This England.’ Other items were Tschaikowsky’s * To the Forest’ and ‘Love, 1 Have Won You,’ by Landon Ronald (Miss Edna M’Lean); Sanderson’s 1 Glory of the Sea ’ (Mrs Noni Hall Masters); ‘ Infelice,’ from Verdis ‘ Eruani ’ (Walter Mitchell); the duet ‘ The Shepherd’s Song ’ (Misses Dorothy Barron and Avis M’Farlane); Handels ‘ Where’er You Walk ’ (Misses Jean M’Lay, Eileen Gillies, and Maude Chisholm). Miss Olive Nieper, a young pianist of considerable ability, played Liszt’s paraphrase of tho famous quartet, ‘ Fairest Daughter of tho Graces.’ from Verdi’s ‘ Rigoletto, m accomplished fashion, and was later associated with Miss Ellice Nieper in a vigorous and competent of Liszt’s ’ Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2' as a duct.