MUSIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 960, 1 May 1930, Page 14

MUSIC

(By

F.1.R.)

Vice-Regal Favourite Many effectively turned terms have been used to describe the voice of Florence Austral, but none more peculiarly appropriate than that o£ the Governor-General of Canada—- " The Voice Majestic.” Lord Willingdon has had life-long association with

music and is a near relation of the late Goring Thomas, the famous composer. His first meeting with Madame Austral was at Vancouver where, after hearing her sing, he and Lady Brassey sent for her to tell her of their

Florence Austral delight in her wonderful voice and extend to her a cordial welcome to Government House. At the conclusion of her Australian lour it is understood the great dramatic soprano will give a limited number of concerts in New Zealand.

Sullivan Night on Saturday. The Auckland Municipal Band will give a Sullivan night on Saturday. A lirst-class programme has been arranged, which will include lighter numbers from “Haddon Hall,” specaally arranged by the bandmaster, and Sullivan's great “In Memoriam” overture. A new instrument is shortly to be added to the resources of the l and in the shape of a vibraphone. This is a percussion instrument on ,the lines of a xylophone, with a clockwork device which allows the bell-like notes to be sustained for several seconds, producing a very beautiful effect. It will be on the platform at the band concerts within the next few months.

Blunt Truths About Singers

FEW GREAT ARTISTS BUT MANY BAD ONES The musical instrument with which iiature has provided every man is, of all, the worst used, writes Richard Ca.pell. The world of music is bristling today with virtuosos of the piano, the violin, all the orchestral instruments • —virtuosos any one of whom would have been astonishing in the 19th century. But what would that century have said of our singers, our tight tenors, our toneless sopranos, pur ventriloquial contraltos? Only by ransacking the whole world can you find today a satisfactory cast for one of the favourite old 19th-cen-tury operas, Rossini’s “Tell,” Meyerbeer's “Africaine,” Verdi’s “Forza del Destino.” Here and there are, of ocurse, to be found great singers—Rethberg, Austral, Chaliapin, Andresen. But what extraordinary numbers there are of

fine voices going from bad to worse by misuse; and also what numbers of pigmy voices pretending to play giant parts! The complaint is not peculiar to one country. Germany may produce good basses—but what intolerable

tenors! Italian men singers are often pretty fair; of the women very rarely can so much be said. How long is it since a really famous singer came from France? In England it is excessively difficult to collect a firstrate solo quartet for “Messiah." Italian sopranos shriek; German tenors seem to be wearing strait-waist-coats. A typical English contralto with quite serious intention sings with two voices—a kind of baritone and a weak mezzo-soprano; while our basses rarely possess low notes, and our tenors are usually forced-up baritones. INTOLERABLE TENORS What moral is to be drawn? Well, here are three points:— The mistake is more than ever being made by aspirants of “going in for singing” professionally without- the first qualification—namely, a naturally “great” voice. The teaching of singing—more unscientific, more haphazard, more rashly empirical, perfunctory and cabalistically nonsensical, very often, than any other form of modern instruction, rather resembling, indeed, in the hands of some practitioners, a branch of mediaeval magic—the teaching of singing, I say, more than ever before is apt to spell the ruin of a good voice. Audiences are far too tolerant of Indifferent singing. People will say in answer to Point 1: —"But think of Gervase Elwes!” Exceptions do not count. Besides, individuals should not be imitated. Caruso bred an intolerable race of Italian tenors who shouted after him, without his physical backing. And think of the contraltos who in the past SO years have sought success by the mere light of Nature, on the strength of one illustrious example! Rossini was right. Voice, voice, voice is what is wanted by a singer—voice and a teacher. UNSUITABLE TEACHERS What of teachers? One who has himself sung is preferable to a pianist or other instrumentalist, or a professor of counterpoint or what not. I know this sounds revolutionary. Sing-ing-teachers are a chapter in themselves. One odd thing is done even by the superior ones—setting pupils to sing in languages neither pupil nor master knows. One word to the audiences. A brief guide for the audience is if the singer conveys a sense of constriction and strain he is wrong; if he distorts vowels he is wrong; if she ventriloquises she is wrong; if he or she hurts the ear with a high note, it is wrong; if the listener is not charmed and engrossed, the singer is wrong and should be doing something else.

s Esnii, The Pirates The house in New York where Sir Arthur Sullivan, 50 years ago, completed the score oE “The Pirates o£ Penzance,” has recently been marked with an inscribed tablet in commemoration o£ that event. Sir Arthur died 29 years ago, and before his death he said that he hoped to be remembered by his more serious and ambitious works. Such was not to be, however, and it is by the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas that his fame is likely to live.

CHAMBER MUSIC

NEW SOCIETY MAKES GOOD START AUCKLAND TRIO ASSISTS A good attendance and a ■well-satis-fied audience gave the Auckland Chamber Music Society a good start on its musical career when its first programme was presented on Monday evening. Under the guidance of Mr. It. E. Fenton the society has made good progress since its inception a few

months ago, and with a satisfactory membership now secured, success seems assured. Mr. Fenton, who has always taken a keen interest in chamber music, is also a member of the Bohemian Orchestra and the orchestra of the Auckland Choral Society, playing the viola for both organisations. The Fenton family has long been connected with music in Auckland, the name frequently cropping up in the history of music in the City in the early 'sixties, and it is indeed fitting that the name should also be associated with the latest musical society to be formed in Auckland. The inclusion on the initial programme of the Auckland Trio was a pleasing tribute to the excellent services given by Miss I. Bosworth, Miss M. YVright and Mr. Cyril Towsey in providing the community with chamber music and incidentally creating the interest that led to the formation of the society. With concerts by the Auckland Trio and the Chamber Music Society lovers of classical music will be able to look forward to a full and enjoyable season. The annual subscription to the society is £1 Is for two tickets for each concert, and 10s 6d for one ticket. Concessions are made to professional musicians and W.E.A. students. Applications should be made to Mr. R. W. Strong at the Gramophone Shop, Kean's Buildings, Queen Street, or to the secretary, Mrs. J. Fenton, 31 Omahu Road, Remuera. Edouard Commette, the world-fam-ous organist of Lyons Cathedral, gives us another amazing . solo, Chopin’s Funeral March, on the historic organ—admitted to be one of the finest in the world. When the grandly resonant chords peal out, one wonders how we could ever be content to hear this majestic composition again on the piano. The organ tone exactly suits its broad deep tones. Commette brings a masterly refinement of mind and complete understanding of his instrument to this work. His phrasing grips at the heart of the music, and gives it a towering strength that is profoundly moving. (Columbia 05046.) • • • It is not often that one has the opportunity of hearing a composer play his own music. Rachmaninoff and Kreisler are two that give authoritative interpretations of their own works, but for the most part the composers themselves keep in the background. Thus of special interest is Cyril Scott's playing of his two pianoforte pieces, “Dance Negre” and “Rainbow Trout.” Both these works are known to students of modern pianoforte music and have been played by artists in New Zealand. Cyril Scott belongs to the modern school of harmony, but he is not an extremist. His music is full of colour, but his technique is not allowed to become subservient to extravagant harmonies. His colouring is introduced with rare artistic insight. Scott is also a fine pianist—in fact, he is one of England’s foremost solo players—and this also adds interest to the record. (H.M.V., 82875.)

One of the prize records of the month is that of Bruno Walter conducting the Symphony Orchestra in Strauss’s “The Gipsy Baron” Overture. The operette was one of Johann Strauss’s most successful. The secret of its popularity lies in its succession of very tuneful and gay motifs, and most of us will recognise the best of them —a sprightly Viennese waltz on the second side. The recording is richly clear and ample in volume. (Columbia 04369.)