THE SHEFFIELD CHOIR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10264, 16 June 1911, Page 5

THE SHEFFIELD CHOIR.

WHAT IS IT REALLY LIKE?

The American papers are beginning to come to hand with the opinion of American critics on the work of the famous Sheffield Choir, which opens in Wellington on June 29th. Says the Detroit Free Press:—"" ',"/■ "In the ordinary sense of the word, as it is understood hereabouts, the Sheffield Choir is not a,choir at all. It is an immense symphonic instrument, made up of 200 master smgers, t whose voices respond as delicately, as •subtly, as perfectly, as instrumentsoi an orchestra do to the baton of a conductor. It is an instrument whose tones are as sweet, as clear, and as delicately adjusted as-the tones of harmonised stringed instruments. Ihe balance between the sub-choirs • is ] faultless. ! "As to Dr. Henry Coward, the diminutive presiding genius of this' human symphonic organ, he has temperament, mastery and high poetic appreciation of the possibilities of his art. "The organisation manifestly is capable of interpreting the most difficult and most exacting scores, that modern genius or eccentricity has . invented. "The one disappointment in the choral work was that the conductor did not permit his singers to offer more out of the cream of their repertoire. Only once when it interpreted El gar s O 'Song of Maine,' was the Choir given a fair chance, and in this number, the "tone .colouring was orchestral. Such a thing had never before been heard m. these regions. "The choir also sang the ponderous, sometimes grandiose, but always "thrice welcome choruses from The Messiah,' marvellously well, and that 'famous glee, 'The Bells of St. Michael's,' was transformed into a tone poem. But on the other hand too ■much music that was good but without distinction crept in and prevented' sustained interest. ' ■[ . "In considering the soloists, it is necessary to remember that they were handicaped by probably the vilest piano ever furnished concert singers in this citv. The work of Henry Turnpenney, the tenor, was too good eveo to be marred by this, v His voice is of true quality and finely trained, and •his number, 'Lohengrin's Farewell, was as effective as it well could be, torn from its almost necessary operatic setting. Miss Gertrude Lonsdale, the contralto, sang her recitative and aria from 'The Messiah' very effectively, but she was less happy in her lighter numbers. The soprano, -Miss Jennie Taggert, has vocal chords of prodigious power, and all the tech- ■ nique necessary to make a singer, but technique cannot transform the naturally harsh voice into a thing.of much beauty. Yet it must be recorded that Miss Taggert was the star of the -evening in the estimation of the audience. Robert Charlesworth. the baritone, has a fair voice, which he uses with discretion."