PACHMANN

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 250, 12 January 1928, Page 14

PACHMANN

I must talk to EXPLAIN ! THE COMPOSERS’ [ THOUGHTS “EXPRESSIONS OF PERSONALITY” Interesting indeed are the words of Vladimir de Pachmann, great pianist, who. at the advanced age of 79. is busily touring Great Britain. For many years critics have levelled at de Pachmann this accusation: “You are a showman first, a musician afterwards!” Now the venerable artist comes forward at last with a vivacious defence: “How of cen has that accusation been made against me by critics in all parts of the world! They would have me march on to the platform, perhaps in a uniform instead of Chopin’s inspiring old coat, stride to the piano and without any adjustments of the stool sit down and play. Not a word may I speak until the concert is finished. If I am pleased, I must not smile; if I am angry, I must hide my feelings! Pachmann’s Little Joke “Often my audiences take me too seriously. I am not always Pachmann, the great musician and friend of Liszt and Wagner. Sometimes I am Pachmann, the jester. I creep on to the platform and look at the great audience. 4 What!* I exclaim aloud. T have been playing in Britain for more than forty years, and you still come to hear me? Marvellous!* Then I turn to the piano and give a start. 4 A piano! What is that for? Surely you do not expect an old man like me to play? My fingers are stiff, and I have not practised for six years!* “The audience is laughing. I like to hear them laugh. I know that they have come, perhaps from a hurried luncheon, and have had to scramble for a bus in the rain. Naturally they are depressed! But when they laugh, then I ean take them into my confidence, introduce them to Liszt and Chopin and Beethoven. “Most people think that music and humour cannot walk hand in hand. Why not? Wagner and many other great giants delighted in a little musical horseplay. So sometimes when I play lam merry. I hold my right hand high on a rest, and when it seems too strike the note just in time. Then I turn around and smile at the shade of Liszt, saying, 'You dared not do that!’ “I do not boast when I say that today I am the only pianist with a great platform personality. My so-called eccentricities, my little jokes, my whirling of the piano stool, my smiles and my grimaces, they are all the expression of my personality.l Paderewski is grand and majestic—but the others are all wooden. They are afraid to be human with music. It is the human touch that binds me to my music and my audiences. I love them and I want them to love me.”

Taking a hint, no doubt, from Sir Thomas Beecham, an organisation calling itself the National Opera Guild has commenced a campaign in New York to enlist the support of 100,000 contributors whose donations of one dollar each can help make possible grand opera performances at reasonable prices. Motsly Russians are connected with the leadership of the guild.

In the drawing room of Berry Head House, Brixham, where the Rev. Henry Francis Lyte composed “Abide With Me,” the choiristers of Lyte’s Memorial Church and St. Peter’s Fishermen’s Church recently commemorated the 80th anniversary of the vicarpoet’s death. After the evening services they went to Berry Head, now owned by Miss Hogg, a grand-da ugh ter of the composer, and sang many hymns. When the Rev. Henry Lyte, who died in 1847, composed the immortal hymn, he was the vicar of Lower Brixham. He was the author of many poems and hymns, some of which are in “Hymns Ancient and Modern.”