Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

Is It What It's Cracked Up To Be?

"DACIFIC Image," said the announcer, "is a work of deep and sincere emotion. It is not for the ordinary listener, but for those who ate prepared to sit quietly and let the emotion unfold for itself." Resisting an immediate, if perverse, instinct to switch off, I sat quietly and was interested. The com-poser-author, John Gough, said in his introduction that he had aimed to present a picture of the Pacific "through the méthod of melodrama." Just what he meant by this I am not quite clear, but the main characteristic of the work appeared to be the attempt to transport the imagination into a completely different physical sphere. Thus we began with the idea of waves and a brassy Van Gogh sunrise; and the first half of the work, interspersed with excerpts from Ecclesiasticus and the Psalms, aimed at painting a picture of the sea’s surface; it was interesting to compare it with Constant Lambert’s "Merchant Seamen," which, clearly contained the idea of the Atlantic. But the second part took a deep breath and plunged below the surface with Walt Whitman, who makes us see, feel, and taste the underwater world by his own methods, the music nobly supporting him.

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.I whakaputaina aunoatia ēnei kuputuhi tuhinga, e kitea ai pea ētahi hapa i roto. Tirohia te whārangi katoa kia kitea te āhuatanga taketake o te tuhinga.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19450427.2.27.9

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 305, 27 April 1945, Page 13

Word count
Tapeke kupu
208

Is It What It's Cracked Up To Be? New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 305, 27 April 1945, Page 13

Is It What It's Cracked Up To Be? New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 305, 27 April 1945, Page 13

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert