Hard Work, But Worth It

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 288, 29 December 1944, Page 7

Hard Work, But Worth It

of the finest concerts we have heard in years was that given by the Dunedin Professional Musicians, and listeners who tuned to 4YA that night would hear the best item of the concert, the Bach .Four-piano Concerto, played by Olive Campbell, Max Scherek, Clarice Drake, and Mary Martin. I don’t suppose the non-musical listener would appreciate the fact that to get this work performed at all is a tour de force, The finding of four pianists capable of Bach and familiar with concerted playing, the learning of the actual music, the arranging for rehearsals, the finding of a place to hold such rehearsals, the procuring of four pianos, the tuning of them, and the performance itself-all this seems a great deal of sheer solid work to prepare for only one performance. The result was so vigorous and vital, so neatly accu-. rate, and so competently timed, that the four pianos sounded as one. The concert audience encored it, and so, I imagine, would the radio audience have done, if it were possible. Perhaps even now, if we applaud loudly and long enough, we may hear this work broadcast again!