HE COULD WHISTLE, TOO

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 89, 7 March 1941, Page 10

HE COULD WHISTLE, TOO

Personal Memories Of Sir Hamilton Harty

APPY personal memories of the English conductor, Sir Hamilton Harty, who died recently, were recalled by Andersen Tyrer, conductor of the NBS String Orchestra, in an interview with The Listener. In fact Sir Hamilton Harty was best man at Andersen Tyrer’s wedding, and they lived close to one another from about 1920 to 1937. Andersen Tyrer first met Harty during the war. He was then Lieutenant Harty, R.N.R., employed as a listener in a submarine because of his acute powers of hearing, and released occasionally to be guest conductor for the London Symphony Orchestra Sunday afternoon concerts in the London Palladium, with Lieutenant Tyrer of the . Royal Welsh Fusiliers as solo pianist. After the war, their friendship con‘tinued, and Hamilton Harty conducted the London Symphony for four concerts that Andersen Tyrer gave in the Queen’s Hall. Hamilton Harty began his career, however, as an accompanist. He felt that his medium was the orchestra, but experienced tremendous difficulty in being recognised in those far-off days early in the century when only conductors with foreign names secured the big appointments. Perhaps an opening might be secured, he thought, if he gained fame as a composer, so he composed his tone poem "With the Wild Geese," and through that secured the opportunity of conducting with his own work. This led to his appointment as permanent con- \

ductor of the Leeds Symphony Orchestra, just about the time that Sir Thomas Beecham presented his famous Promenade Concerts in Manchester. In fact, that orchestra was formed by Hamilton Harty for Sir Thomas, and gave concerts nightly in the Queen’s Theatre, with Hamilton Harty as occasional guest conductor. This in turn led to the appointment with which he will always be associated, and for which, indeed, he was knighted--his contribution to music through his long and brilliant conductorship of the famous Halle Orchestra.

The Halle Orchestra had had a long career under Michael Balling (remembered by some New Zealanders as a former Director of the School of Music at Nelson), and when Balling | returned to Germany, the Halle was carried on by Sir Thomas Beecham as chief conductor and musical director, but with the system of guest conductors. One of these was the young Hamilton Harty, who, when his genius was recognised, was recommended for the permanent conductorship, and made the Halle into the most dynamic orchestra in England. Of recent years, Sir Hamilton Harty had been away from conducting through illness and the loss of an eye, but a letter received by Andersen Tyrer recently indicated that he had intended to start work again with the new concert season. One of the most amusing stories told of Sir Hamilton is of his skill as a whistler. When any member of his orchestra had difficulty with a part, Sir Hamilton put over the melody in an astonishingly accurate and comprehensive whistle, which was always enthusiastically applauded by the remainder of the orchestra. He was also one of the greatest readers of scores among living conductors. Andersen Tyrer recalled one occasion at the Harty home when the famous William Walton, then a comparatively unknown composer, dropped in with the score of the first movement of his Symphony No. 1. Without hesitation, although he had never seen it before, Harty propped it up on the piano and gave a remarkable exhibition of sight

reading of all the parts, Later, Sir Hamilton conducted the London Symphony Orchestra when they presented that first movement only, followed by the Symphony in its entirety. (Andersen Tyrer will leave for Australia shortly to conduct an augmented ABC orchestra in a series of concerts in Sydney and Melbourne before going on to South Africa.)