Unusual Songs
MUST commend Pat Woods for her constant choice of none but the most interesting and unusual songs; her recent recital from 4YA contained some splendid examples of Modern British songs. "Silent Noon,’ by Vaughan Williams is, alas! in danger of becoming popular, which means that it is beginning to be sung in all keys, by all types | of voice; but the mellow, smooth con-
tralto seems most suited to it. I remember a friend of mine, who doesn’t like contraltos, speaking of "the concentrated femininity of the contralto voice." He meant the phrase to be derogatory, but I find
|it rather complimentary. Similarly, I suppose, you might say all bass voices are the essence of masculinity. There is, indeed, something choir-boyish about all tenors, something airy-fairy about lyric sopranos, which often makes them prefer the high note and the roulade to the more important matter of interpreting the composer’s message. As for the rest of Pat Woods’s programme, I liked best
her shepherd "with a pair of fine bag-pipes"--I couldn’t help wondering how New Zealand sheep would react to being mustered with the aid of such skirling.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 288, 29 December 1944, Page 6
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189Unusual Songs New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 288, 29 December 1944, Page 6
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