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

No statue of Beethoven yet stands in Berlin, the city of statues; and so the city council has asked six sculptors, including r. tists from the old school to the most daring modernists, to submit models for a memorial to be erected in honour of the one hundredth anniversary of the master’s death, which occurred in March. * * * Due no doubt to the keen demand for woodwind players for picture and dance orchestras, a pronounced shortage of players for instruments of this class at present exists in Auckland. This is particularly felt by the amateur organisations, who claim that no sooner do woodwind players attain a certain standard of efficiency than they immediately transfer their energies to more profitable spheres. In this connection a well-known local musician expresses the opinion that a little help from the municipal authorities would not be amiss, stating that on one occasion the Municipal Band could have given very valuable assistance to a certain local organisation by granting permission for one of their number to play for them at a public performance. As one of the objects of the Municipal Band should be the general advancement of music in the city, the request would not appear to be altogether unreasonable. Ignaz Friedman, who is scheduled for an early visit to New Zealand, has been called the third and last of that noble cycle of living Polish pianists which musical history will reveal as the greatest trio of artists of the pianoforte ever to be produced at one time by one country. His playing has that finished perfection that carries the hearer involuntarily along with it. Through his incomparable mastery of everything technical, he reigns over the piano like a king, triumphing over the music and over the nerves of his hearers. The highest possible honour has been paid to Ignaz Friedman, in that he was invited to play Beethoven’s famous Concerto in G Major at the Beethoven Centenary Festival held in Vienna in March, a few days before he sailed for his Australian tour.