RABLE CONCERT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 July 1940, Page 4

RABLE CONCERT

CENTENNIAL CELEBRITY . ARTISTS GALA NIGHT IN OPERA HOUSE. ENTHUSIASTIC AUDIENCE FILLS THEATRE. A truly superb feast of vocal and instrumental music was enjoyed, and was received with every indication of keen appreciation, by those who attended the Centennial Celebrity Concert in Masterton on Saturday evenin;'. The audience filled every scat in the Opera House. Much had been expected of the great and famous artists constituting the concert party and every expectation was more than realised. The vocalists gave a magnificent rendering or arias and songs varying widely in theme and character, and the instrumental music of the evening also was noteworthy and outstanding. To those who had heard the visiting artists only over the air, the experience of hearing them face to face was a revelation and a delight. The audience, as might have been expected, was demonstrative in its applause, and if all the demands made for encores had been acceded to, the concert would have been still in progress on Sunday morning. At the beginning of the evening, Mr A. W. Mulligan, C.8.E., general secretary of the Centennial organisation, gave a brief account of the Centennial musical festival and introduced the artists individually. The first vocalist heard was Miss Isobel Baillie, who enchanted her audience from first to last. Possessed of a lovely soprano voice, Miss Baillie uses it with perfect artistry, alike in ringing and free-throated melody and in the most delicate shades of expression. Her numbers (the last two of them encores), were: —“O Had I Jubal’s Lyre,” from “Joshua” (Handel); “Art Thou Troubled,” from “Rodelinda” (Handel); “The Cuckoo” (Martin Shaw); A Lullaby (Hamilton Harty). Mr Oscar Natzke gave a splendid rendering of contrasting items. His great bass voice is a marvel of its kind and he conveyed at all times the impression of still holding great powers in reserve. He was equally admirable in the majestic invocation with which he opened (“Possenti Numi,” Mozart), and in the playful number that followed (“When a Maiden,” Mozart). In his first encore number (“Song of the Flea,”) he scaled heights of sardonic expression as well as of musical excellence. Recalled again, Mr Natzke sang with fire and spirit “There’ll Always be an England,” and then led his audience in that patriotic song.

The contralto voice of Miss Gladys Ripley is remarkable in beauty, range and power. She is outstanding, too, in her mastery of emotional and dramatic expression. Her items, the last two given in response to encore demands, were: —‘Hark! What I tell to Thee” (The Spirit’s Song, Haydn; “Seguidille,” from “Carmen” (Bizet); “Homing”; “I Heard a Forest Praying.” Mr Heddle Nash is a rarely gifted concert performer. He has a robust tenor voice of fine quality, range and power, and at the same time is a human dynamo, throwing himself heart and soul into dramatic expression, or into Puckish humour or drollery, as the occasion may demand. Mr Nash announced four songs, but had to sing seven before he was allowed to escape. His items were: —“Lock the Door, Lariston,” (arr. M. Diack); Welsh song; “The Stuttering Lover”; “Sally in Our Alley” (Carey); “Neapolitan song; Bandit song; “Mary of Argyle” (Nelson). Of the instrumentalists of the evening, Mr Clifford Huntsman, pianist, gave in two appearances a finished rendering of a series of selections, on each occasion being encored. His numbers were: “Mortify Us by Thy Grace” (Bach-Rummel); Sonata (Scarlatti); Intermezzo (Schumann); Soiree Dans Grenade (Debussy); Ballade (Debussy); Studies, Op. 25, No. 5, in E. Minor (Chopin); Arabesque (Schumann).

A noteworthy contribution to the concert was made by the Centennial String Quartet —Messrs Vincent Aspey (first violin), Harry Ellwood (second violin), William McLean (viola), and Francis Bate (violoncello). Besides playing classical selections with brilliant effect and perfect precision the quartet delighted its audience with a melodious rendering of simpler melodies played as encores. It was heard to great advantage, also, in accompaniments to several of the vocal numbers. The items played by the quartet were: —Canzonetta (from String Quartet in E flat Major), Mendelssohn; Scherzo (from String Quartet in E Minor, No. 2), Mendelssohn; Berceuse (on a Russian theme), Osten-Sacken; Rondo (from String quartet, No. 6). Mozart; Finale from the Quarter- in G Minor, No. 3 (Rider's Quartet), Joseph Haydn; “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes,” Alfred Pochon. Impressive concluding items were two operatic selections, one of them an encore, sung by Messrs Nash and Natzke. At the piano, Mr Noel Newson was an able, highly skilled and most sympathetic accompanist. APPRECIATION AND FAREWELL. At the end of the evening the members of the concert party assembled on the stage, together with the Mayor (Mr T. Jordan). Mr Mulligan said they had assembled to say farewell “to this very appreciative Masterton audience.” The numbers present had been, he said, an inspiration to all the artists. He desired to thank them, on behalf of the Government, for their magnificent support of the concert and for the very enthusiastic reception they had given to the artists. Mr Mulligan also expressed gratitude to the local Centennial Music Committee, under the chairmanship of the Mayor, for the very excellent arrangements they had made for the concert.

"This has been a memorable evening, and I tremble to think we very nearly missed it," Mr Jordan observed. He said that when the programme for the provincial tour of the Centennial artists was drawn up. Mastertan was not included. The matter, however, had been cheerfully, readily and well put right by Mr Mulligan. They had heard the Centennial artists over the radio, but to hear them as they had been heard that evening was like sight given to the blind. The performance that evening would leave henceforth quite another association in their memories. "I want to express our pride in the performance of the New Zealand representative and his team." said Mr Jordan and his final word was to ask the audience to join him in a hearty round of applause to "Mr Mulligan and his famous team.”

There was a prompt and hearty response to the Mayor's call. To a word of acknowledgement, Mr Mulligan added an explanation that when the provincial tour had been decided upon, an itinerary was drawn up under which 14 concerts were to be given in 25 days, the company of artists travelling 2390 miles in that period. At Mr Jordan's request, a fifteenth concert, in Masterton, had been added and the distance to be travelled in the 25 days had been, increased to 2500 miles.