HELPING SOLOISTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 30, 28 April 1927, Page 14

HELPING SOLOISTS

MR. CYRIL TOWSEY’S MISSION AN ARTISTIC ACCOMPANIST “In his usual artistic manner, Mr. Towsey provided the accompaniments.” Tacked on the end of the press notice, almost as an afterthought, the above is typical of the recognised form used to indicate the lady or gentleman who presided at the piano. Unfortunately, it also seems to represent the general attitude of the present-day concertgoer toward this very important art. In the case of Mr. Towsey, the above scant consideration is probably due to the fact that unless for once he failed to play the accompaniments “in a clever and artistic manner ” there is no news value attached to his share of the performance. That much is always expected of him, just as the Devonport ferry is expected to sail at the scheduled hour. Unfortunately good accompanists have come to be accepted as a matter of course. Naturally they are very much appreciated by those most con-

cerned—the soloists, but by others the vital influence of the accompanist upon the musical life of the community is realised only in a vague sort of way. But what if there were no Mr. Towseys? No pianist to provide those delicately restrained but subtle accompaniments, oft-times so difficult to distinguish from the notes of the singer, yet which, when occasions demand, so suggestively indicate the way up through the thorny places to the pleasant heights where a final rousing top note, taken with surprising ease, brings the plaudits of an appreciative house. “ Yes, I was in good voice to-night,” the singer is pleased to admit. “ I felt as if I really wanted to sing.” Thus is the influence of the accompanist acknowledged. And with Mr. Towsey we include all those sympathetic and accomplished musicians, who, as all vocalists will admit, have done, and are doing so much to improve the standard of musical art and appreciation in New Zealand. Born in Dunedin, Mr. Towsey, however, has for a number of years claimed the Queen City as his home town. At an early age he went to Germany for the purpose of continuing his musical studies, placing himself under the charge of Heinrich Lutter, of Hanover. In 1898 he returned to Wellington, where he studied for five years unde: Mr. Maughan Barnett, during which time he did all the principal accom panying in the capital. Advised to go Home, Mr. Towsev went to London in 1906, where his ability was quickly recognised in an ap pointment as accompanist to Messrs. Schultz, Curtis and Powell who were arranging a number of celebrity tourt at that time. Under their management Mr. Towsey acted as accompanist and solo pianist, touring with John McCormack, Blanche Marchesi, Jaoska Szigeti, Hungarian violinist, Ella Russel, Backhaus, Packmann, Edna Thornton and many others, as well as conducting a very successful tour of his own which drew forth many flattering notices from the English press. Returning to New Zealand in 1910 Mr. Towsey spent some time in Christchurch and also in Hamilton, finally settling in Auckland, where his successes both as an accompanist, soloist and teacher are too well known to require further elaboration. In the Bohemian Orchestra, Royal Auckland Choir, Auckland Savage Club and the Orphans’ Club he has proved a valuable member. Always willing to give his services on any occasion, and possessed of a large fund of ready humour, Cyril Towsey, as he is popularly hailed, is the type of man for whom Savage clubs were specifically formed. Good fellowship, and “ the fostering of the good work of the storyteller, the maker of pictures and the player upon cunning instruments ” are tenets very acceptable to his genial nature. Very appropriately indeed can he be termed a good Savage.