WILHELM BACKHAUS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1058, 23 August 1930, Page 15

WILHELM BACKHAUS

ONE RETURN CONCERT Fresh from a series of triumphs in the South Island, followed by brief holiday visits to Mount Cook and Rotorua, Wilhelm Backliaus will give his farewell concert in New Zealand next Thursday night at the Town Hall. Mr. E. J. Gravestock, under whose direction Mr. Backhaus is touring the Dominion, emphasises the fact that only the one recital can be given, as Mr. Backhaus has to sail for Australia the following day for a return tour before returning to Europe for the concert season. Christchurch recently gave three packed houses and, commenting on the first recital, one critic remarked: “The attitude of the Christchurch public toward music antT the artist was very clearly defined, when Mr. Wilhelm Backhaus gave his opening recital in the Municipal Concert Hall last night to a crowded audience. From the moment ho took his place quietly at the piano and his fingers touched the keys, the pianist began to weave his spell. He proclaimed himself master of his art, and master of the moods of his listeners. He became the wizard conjuring exquisite beauty from his instrument and tossed off every passing mood or deep emotion from supple wrists and swift fingers.” The programme for next Thursday night includes three Beethoven numbers (Sonata in E Major, Opus 109; Rondo, Opus 51, No. 2, in G Major; and Ronda a Capriccio, Opus 129, in G Major), six Chopin compositions, and works by Schumann, Liszt and Rachmaninoff. The box plan opens on Monday at Lewis Eady’s.