MR FORREST’S PIANOFORTE RECITAL.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1870, 20 February 1880, Page 3

MR FORREST’S PIANOFORTE RECITAL.

A musical treat of no common order rewarded those who went to the Oddfellows’ Hall last night, attracted by the announcement that Mr Angelo Forrest would give a grand pianoforte recital of classical and popular music. Unheralded by any preliminary puffing, Mr Forrest legitimately established his claim to be regarded as one of the most finished interpreters of high class music that has visited New Zealand. A pupil of Mr Charles Halle’s, the gentleman in question possesses many of the brilliant qualities of his gifted preceptor, which he manifested by his interpretation of the various motifs comprised in the programme. Consisting in all of fourteen numbers, the concert lasted about an hour and three quarters, and in that time Mr Forrest exhibited not only his thorough mastery of the instrument on which he performed, but at the same time his perfect acquaintance with the works of the great masters of classical music. Ho has a fi-m and vigorous touch, wholly free from indecision, and his powers of brilliant execution are something remarkable. His mastery of the keyboard has never been equalled by any previous performer in Christchurch, his runs being distinguished not only by wonderful rapidity, but by the more unusual quality of the most perfect evenness. He completely illustrates Thaiberg’s theory of the art of singing as applied to pianoforte playing. This was thoroughly exemplified by the admirable manner in which he rendered that brilliant composer’s well-known arrangement of “ Home, Sweet Home.” The delightful pathetic melody was never obscured by the rapid torrent of runs in the treble notes with which it is embellished; they on the contrary seemed rather to enhance the completeness with which the air was developed with the left hand. Mr Forrest possesses another gift in more than usual excellence. He is a most perfect timeist, the manner in which he executed slow passages in Beethoven’s March “ Funebre” being taken, as a case in point. A nocturne, by Chopin, developed this quality in another phase ; the slow, dreamy melody in G minor being the very poetry of music. The programme included some of the choicest gems of the more severely classical composers, varied by lighter compositions by Chopin, Weber, Wehli, and Liszt, and others. As a concession to the popular taste, the performer gave some variations on “ Massa’s in the cold ground ” by Pape, and a brilliant piece by James Wehli, entitled “ Minnehaha,” in which the very spirit of Longfellow’s “Laughing water” seemed to exult. Mention must also be made of Handel’s “ Harmonious Blacksmith,” which never palls on repetition, and, as played by Mr Forrest, evoked thunders of applause. Altogether, as before stated, those who heard this fine performer will not readily forget his really extraordinary powers, and those who did not patronise the concert have in an equal degree sustained a loss both of enjoyment and of a valuable lesson.