RECENT MUSIC

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 159, 10 July 1942, Page 2

RECENT MUSIC

No. 18:

By

Marsyas

certs have been coming over almost as thick and fast as the works of Brahms in the last few weeks, and one begins to see where some people get the idea that music, alone among the arts, is unrelated to life; in fact an escape from actuality. The idea of giving public concerts (in our sense of the word), seems to have briginated in the middle of the 17th century. Before then, music had a ‘more "useful" function. And since then some music has been written specifically for the concert platform without losing those qualities which, being related to personal and social factors of the moment, can’alone make it worth ‘preserving. On the other hand, a great deal of music has been preserved which ‘had no such roots in the first place. At the head of this class stands much of the music which our choirs perform. I do not enjoy saying this, though choirmasters may suspect me of that sort of malice, Bach’s music will survive the most stiff and starchy occasion because it was born of humane purpose; Handel’s because of its hedonistic ecstasy; the Elizabethan composers, because their age has something to offer us, and they are accredited representatives of it. But when you go into a plaster hall and sit eyeing rows of well-meaning people (the ladies in their pastel blue, green and shell-pink looking like so many lollies, the gentlemen resembling so many penguins), then the Spofforths, MacFarrens, Beales, Webbes, Callcotts, Cookes, Pearsalls, and comy, don’t seem to have any meaning y the time they get across that chill barrier of footlights and shrubs and pot-plants, = e bd ‘THE songs of "mirth and jollity" _" which the male choirs enjoy should be sung in bars; the rollicking songs about bos’ns and mates and cap’ns should be tried down on the wharves; Elgar should be sung at Rotary luncheons; Parry at meetings of the Standards Institute; and Hail Smiling Morn should awaken our military camps. Then we should see whether such music has use or meaning. B eons from choral conRESUMABLY the sort of person who periodically objects to opera "commentaries" on the air would rather be at such a concert as I have described. But the operatic composer devised his music to accompany action and visual spectacle. Most operatic composers would be horrified at great numbers of people listening intently to the music without knowing from one moment to’ the next what should be going on. It is, of course, unfortunate that in radio performance a distraction that was in the first place visual has to be provided through the same sense which perceives the music, but it can’t be objected to on principle (though I think it succeeds more easily in Gluck than in Verdi).

The gréater the composer the less likely he would be to insist that his music is holy and untouchable in this particular respect, * * * STATION 2YA has adopted the practice of forecasting the chief contents of its afternoon classical hours; this is very convenient for those who are lucky enough to be able to listen frequently. But I hope we shall again see the day when Classical Hours will be Hours, and won’t trickle off after 35 minutes. Ba * * GEORGE BUTTERWORTH’S Shropshire Lad Rhapsody, of which I suggested a repeat in May, had a most welcome rehearing, and it is to be hoped that everyone who missed hearing it the first time listened on this occasion. Often enough with the youngish composer, his emotional development gets ahead of his technical resaurce, but the orchestra soars above immature awkwardnesses in this Rhapsody. It is hard to say whether the opportunity to know something of George Butterworth’s is a glad occasion or whether ,one’s pleasure is outweighed by the wistful feeling that his death was a great loss. me * ae ARRANGEMENTS of 17th and 18th century music have been appearing frequently among recent new releases of recorded music — two new Purcell suites, a new Handel Suite, and an interesting combination: Bach Walton. How little these two composers have in common becomes apparent in The Wise Virgins, especially when we compare it with Stokowski’s Bach transcriptions. But it is interesting to see that a bad conductor may sometimes make a better arranger than does a good composer. OME of the zeal ith which arrangers and orchestrators are proselytising Purcell, Handel and Bach, might profitably be devoted to Couperin and even Rameau. There are tuneful and graceful pieces to be found in the harpsichord (or rather clavecin), suites or "ordres" of Couperin, which have that kind of instant appeal which seems to qualify a piece for inclusion in these "re-pre-sentation" suites, ballets, etc.