MUSIC IN LONDON

Hokitika Guardian, 29 March 1930, Page 3

MUSIC IN LONDON

MANY CHANGES IX RECENT YEARS.

■j. _ . „ .WE-L:INGTON, March. 2,7. 1 ' "L Alanv . clia'L w’’’ 'in' QpiUicclbon' with . iiui.s% nnd rimsreians. werie •noted, by Air ;Leoh ,de Aiauiiy, tainted \ ; .oi lust -and conductor of the Wellington Symphony Orchestra, during a brief visit to London afte ran absence from it of seven years. Air de Mauny, who re)(|!Wellington, is a Londoner ac.:J vwemt'Horne'tp see his people. [

“There is .( good deal of distress .•uhrplg English muskdans,” -said Mr de Aiauiiy. “caused by an army of them liaviY’g been ' dsimissed from kinenias ail over London. All those houses of" ’any .pretejicc have.’: been’, equipped" foe" --■he talkies, frhd Jiave got rid of .the.r , prehest-ns. Here and there the [rg 1 heatres' lia.VS” retwi]ted“orcliestfas'77hut Weri-’-ih •tiikt case- the numbers are be ■ ing whittled down. Though the distress was very..hud, the secretary of the London "OrclibsteM Association fa very -old body) seemed to he full of 1 hope for' the future. He mentioned j that _at Elstfee anyf wherever els' 2.?H:'t;s Were made musicians would he needed, and ns the industry grew more music’cns would bo required. I was not, so.sanguine as.Jie seemed about Ihe future. :"f - ..i

“I was delighted to find that there was never such activity in symphonic music in mv time iii London as there was this last winter.' The British Broadcasting Company’s orchestra, directed b.v Percy Pitt, with changes of conductor, numbers 27 : members, and it gives concerts at the Albert Flail .the People’s Palace (Mile- End RoadL and other phicos, once a week, and is on the air almost every concert even:nar. The night T heard it the orchestfa was conducted by one of the two vnnng Fnglish conductors who have mmo to the fore since I left Home, T '"s ; i Cameron. The other'is Malcolm Sargent. Both are excellent. The-pro-gramme included Richard Strauss’s

tone poem, “Don Quixote," the big ’cello solo in which was magnificently played by Lauri Kennedy, a member of ■the•'■Kennedy family of Musicians who .used to tour New Zealand, and a relative of .Miss Daisy Kennedv’ 1, (Mrs John Drinkwater), the brilliant violinist. Curiously enouglit, Rcimo Moiseiwitsch (Mrs Drinkwater’s first husband) was.also on the programme. Mr Hubert Walenn, of the Royal Academy, told me that Mr Kennedy was one of the two .host pupils lie had ever had, arid T suppose thousands of talented ’celloists have passed through his hands.” I THE FIRST ORCHESTRA. Hallo Orchestra, under Sir Hamilton Hatty, was the first orchestra 1 heard in London—a gorgeous ensemble. It played the second symphony of Elgar and three tone poems by Strauss, i

“Then there are ; lie great concerts by the Louden Symphony Orcliestia, the Queens Mall Orchestra under Sir Meury Weed, and the Royal Philharmonic, whose 880th concert 1 attended. The first was given on March 8, 1818, the programme containing a facsimile in niinature of the original programnm. °n this oecaision Elgar comlueted and Albert Sammons, my teacher, was flicsoloist. Through him I met Sir Edward Elgar, who seemed quite interostested to learn wliat ewe wore doing down under. , I “1 used to play under Sir Henry ! Wood : n the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, but as I know lie would not remember me I did not go to see him. But after a matinee in the Wintergnrden Thoatr' T went into one of Sinter’s places for a r"n of tea, when who should lie flier' having a couple of poached eggs bir

Sir Henry Wood. So I introduced mvself and wo had quite a pleasant half hour together. .1 showed him the programmes of our concerts in Wellington and he was distinctly interested, and a,shod me to write tol.'him if any advice or 1 guidance were needed, .which I th -ught was very courteous and considerate. sns'day concerts. “Wonderful concerts are given every Sunday afternoon in the Albert Hall : wonderful orchestras with a change of conductor every week ; wonderful names such as Albert Coates, Toseaiiin, Eurlwaugler (from Vienna), and others- * n d every .concert i.s pretty well crowded. I went to hear Krcisler: the prices ranged from ids to 3s. There must, have been 10,000 poojjJe there.

even at those.'prices'- At other concerts the price-, ranged from Ss(jd to 3s (id. •'in a m.-ajuied \yav thjsgSoyt pi..tiling could he doin' here, if; The authorities' would allow ns to charge for admission ? ii'l’c is one yvay of helping the musicians who have been thrown out of work by tin- advent of the talkies! Let us' charge for admission on Sundays the '•same as is done all over England and , the Continent, and it would help'the 1 cause of music and the musician eon-j sidcrahly;” ' I APPRECIATION OF CTT.OI BE R, !M I’SI C. "In my time in Condon it was always! difficult to draw an audience to chain-. hor concerts, and even the small Reeh- i stein and Wigmnre flails we're never '•lt'd. During I ids visit I attended a i concert hy the Lcuer Quartet at tlm I

hig Queenks Hall, which was almost fi 1 led’ and it- was a strictly classical progra'i'inne—Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven." Who after that will: say that the gramophone is not helping to prove that chamber music is not so dry as some people imagine?” Mr de Alauny is getting into harness •right away. He has fixed the date of his first-symphony concert for May 8. !u that connection it is interesting to learn that in Londpp he purchased the Fifth Symphony' of Tsehaikqwsky, the 7) Afi nor. Symphony of Cesar Franck, the Cappriccio Fspagnole (Spanish Capriee) of Rimsky-Korsakoff, the orchesIral parts' of the. Cl Minor .poflcefto of Aiax Bruch, the orchestral parts of the D Minor Concerto (for pianoforte) of Brel hovon Alozqrt’s “Orchestral” Pantomiiu',” and a suite for pianoforte and' hy Olsen the Norwegian composer.