A MUSICAL TREAT

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 29, 30 July 1952, Page 4

A MUSICAL TREAT

Community Arts Service Recital Rickit's Hall was about one-third full on Tuesday evening, July 22, when a string qUartet consisting of Miss Antonia Braidwood and Miss Moira Fenton (violins), Miss Louise Rose (viola), and Miss Diana Cole^ man (^ello), gave a recital of chamber music under the auspices of the Community Arts Service. The small attendance was no doubt partly due to the cold weather, but those who ventured out were amply rewarded. They were able to bask in the warmth of the playlng of four charming young women. Their physial comfort, too, was greatly enhanced by a number oi heaters loaned by the headmaster of the school, Mr Osborne, whose kindness was very much appreciated by audience and players alike. The cold weather also was no doubt responsible for an occasional lapse in intonation and it caused the snapping of a ^iola string, fcrtunately duririg the interval betwTeer the playing of two quartets. The programme opened with a bright and whimsical quartet by Dittersdorf, played wdth plenty of verve and gaiety. This was followed l^y a lovely work of Haydn, the Quartet in B flat, Opus 76, no. 4, the warmth and humanity of which were not marred by a slight flagging of pace and flagging of tone. Schubert's Quartet in E Flat, Opus 124, No. 1, with its beautiful phrases and implacable melodic line, was a rare delight. The first movement in particular was most beautifully played the musicians achieving that real ensemble which is so essential in chamber music. There was some amusement when the Schubert Quartet besran, the opening notes being reminiscent of the British National Anthem that there was a preliminary stir among the audience, and every time the phrase recurred a smile rippled across their faces. The players gave, as an extra number, a beautiful rendering of a well-known "Serenade" from another of Haydri's Quartets, the slender melody flowing above an accompaniment on plucked strings. This was a really delightful evening of enjoyment, not least of wh:ch was that members of the audience were able to get home at a reasonable hotrr.—-DuMe M. Cohen. Captain Carvallo" The comedy, "Captain Carvallo,^ described as "an entertainment with no moral and very little morals," wiR b« present ed by the Communitv Arts Service on Saturday, August 30.