SIR THOMAS'S SECOND ACT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 52, 21 June 1940, Page 9

SIR THOMAS'S SECOND ACT

Famous Conductor Takes Baton At Auckland Music Festival A eee was unusually fortunate in the pening of its Centennial festival in that the first performance of "Faust" was attended by the noted British conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham. Sir Thomas was passing through Auckland on his way to Australia, where he has a series of engagements to fulfil with the ABC, and at the invitation of Andersen Tyrer, the musical director, he consented to take the baton for the second act of the opera. Sir Thomas was introduced to a crowded house by J. S. Stewart, chairman of. the Auckland Centennial Fine Arts Committee. In a brief speech, he said that he had been asked to conduct the whole performance and but for a lack of acquaintance with the ‘excellent chorus and orchestra, he would gladly have done so. However, he described himself as rather a bird of passage and a little out of practice and he had therefore elected to conduct the garden scene, in which only the principals appeared. At the conclusion of the second act, prolonged applause marked the audience’s appreciation of his skill and he received a second tumultuous ovation when he took a curtain-call with the principals. Sir Thomas’s reputation as something of a martinet even in the august precincts of Covent Garden resulted in a little general restraint and nervousness when he first went backstage, but before the performance was over the mellow influence of the music appeared to have broken the ice completely and when the show ended about 11.30, Sir Thomas appeared to be signing autographs for anyone and everyone. Opera in England But he is still dissatisfied with the position of opera in England. There is still no State or municipal patronage of opera there and little enough private support. In its present commercialised form, opera was too expensive a form of entertainment for the ordinary citizen. The position had been made worse by the war. Now it was impossible to get singers from abroad and there were not ~~ English singers to fill the roles. "Stands Alone" "In his versatility he stands alone, and he has done more for British music, particularly that of Delius, than any other man," said Andersen Tyrer,

musical director of the Centennial Festival, when discussing Sir Thomas Beechams’s place in music with a representative of The Listener. Mr. Tyrer added that no other conductor could compare’ with Beecham in his interpretation of Mozart. For the past 36 years, Sir Thomas Beecham had been striving to put opera in England on a proper footing and he had devoted his own personal fortune to that end. To-day the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which he created, was second to none in the world. He was one of the few conductors with a sense of humour and that helped to keep his orchestra, and singers as well, in good spirits. One had, of course, to get used to his mannerisms, but his personality was electric. Andersen Tyrer himself was essociated with Sir Thomas Beecham in 1920, and Maurice Clare, the Centennial Orchestra leader was at one time one’ of the 22 first violins in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Orchestra’s Hard Work Sir Thomas, Mr. Tyrer continued, had expressed amazement at the standard of performance which

had been reached by the Centennial Orchestra in such a short time. To demonstrate the magnitude of the task which the orchestra was doing, he added, it was sufficient to point out that Sir Thomas Beecham would be conducting 14 concerts between now and October in his Australian tour, whereas the New Zealand Centennial orchestra was. doing 40 concerts in two months, necessitating an almost colossal repertoire. "But," he added, "though the members of the orchestra are working night and day there has never been any grumble. Everything has been done in a spirit of co-operation." The manner in which the festival project itself had been carried into effect, too, was a credit to the New Zealand. Government. He recalled that the only time State assistance had been forthcoming for Covent Garden was during the term of the first British Labour Government. Only from Labour administrations, indeed, he said, had music received any substantial encouragement. Yet, in his opinion, music was much more important from a community point of view than pictorial art; opera was of more immediate value than art-galleries.