Famous Contralto in New Role

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 78, 23 June 1927, Page 14

Famous Contralto in New Role

CLARA BUTT’S SERMON “RELIGION IS A HABIT” After singing Dvoraks dramatic Biblical songs and “Abide With Me” at Queen’s Hall, London, recently. Dame Clara Butt preached a sermon.

After the great audience had sung “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” the famous singer rose with several sheets of manuscript in her hands. Speaking with quiet deliberation, she pleaded for a restatement of Christian truths in language all could understand, and illustrated her sermon by giving many homely examples. The audience listened almost breathlessly. “Christ has been smothered by tradition and domesticity, and rendered innocuous customary piety,” said the famous singer. “Religion is a habit — and a bad habit at that—-just as the saying ‘How do you do?’ and not waiting for an answer has become a habit. Dame Clara recommended the Bishop of Pretoria’s book, “The Returning Tide of Faith,” as an example of Christian faiths expressed in simple modern language.

Tchaikovsky’s “Pianoforte Concerto in B Flat Minor” enjoys a popularity equalled by few great works. Such exceptional popularity is not without reason, indeed, for it has every characteristic calculated to appeal to the music lover. It is exceptionally rich in melody, even for Tchaikovsky, and contains passages of great brilliancy for the display of the soloist’s virtuosity. The recording is magnificent. Indeed, these records will be considered by many to be one of the finest chievements of the New “His Master’s Voice” Electrical Recording. The performance recorded here is of an unusual brilliance. Both Mark Hambourg at the pianoforte and Sir Landon Ronald have given unstintingly toward the production of as magnificent a set of records as it is possible to wish for. When Tchaikovsky wrote the Concerto in 1875-76 he was inspired by the desire to create a pianoforte concerto foi his close friend, the virtuoso Nicholas Rubinstein (brother of the more famous Anton). In consequence, it was originally dedicated to Rubinstein. But Rubinstein was piqued that he should not have been consulted by the composer on matters, of technique, and he received the “Concerto” with silence and, later, biting criticism. Tchaikovsky obstinately refused to make any of the alterations suggested to the score, and, taking the manuscript, he erased Rubinstein’s name from the dedication, substituting that of Hans Von Bulow, to whom he n-ow sent it. The reception here was very different. Rubinstein eventually became reconciled to the “Concerto.” but his caustic advice had its effect ultimately, and in 1889 Tchaikovsky revised the work completely. It is in the revised form that the “Concerto” has won its present universal popularity. The “Concerto” falls into three movements.