Not Less Than the Dust
BEAUTIFULLY smooth rendering of a group ‘of Amy WoodfordeFinden’s songs was given by Rena Smith from 4YA. These were not the more usual Indian Love Lyrics, but a group of lesser-known songs with Oriental titles. Mrs. Woodforde-Finden seems to have been aftracted greatly to the East without quite knowing how to secure, musically, that exotic quality for which she so constantly strove. In the Love Lyrics she made use of prosaic elements, minor keys and imitation témple bells, which are popularly supposed to evoke an Eastern atmosphere, but. which remind the listener, instead, of a synthetic traveltalk sound track made in Hollywood. However, in the songs sung by Rena Smith, the composer has merely written straightforward ballad music, and if it were not for the words one could imagine the vocalist to be singing about any of the various themes used for such songs by the Western-minded Jibrettist. As such, these songs stand up very well in contrast with other ballads, and are immensely superior to the rather sentimental meanderings of the average woman song-writer of Amy Woodforde-Finden’s heydey.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19451005.2.18.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 328, 5 October 1945, Page 8
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184Not Less Than the Dust New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 328, 5 October 1945, Page 8
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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