What Our Commentators Say

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 335, 23 November 1945, Page 8

What Our Commentators Say

Melodious Birds HE series "English Music Since the Elizabethans" got away to a fair start at 2YA notwithstanding the fact that the first programme was obviously improvised, and was, as it were, pre-natal, since it dealt with the Elizabethans themselves. Those inimitable musical antiquarians Ronald and Zillah Castle couldn’t come, and in their stead we had BBC recordings of Byrd, Dowland, and Farnaby arranged for strings. Then some of those invaluable people who are evidently nonentities without names of any sort but sing very well just the same did some three-part songs by Wilbye and Henry Youll. Another that was announced was evidently done for their own amusement only since when it was due to start we had a record of scmething else. But the tenor and contralto were heard to advantage, as the dailies say, in two solo airs by Pilkington and Dowland, sung with feeling and distinction. The whole was bound together by some semi-well-informed remarks by the announcer about the men who wrote the music. But whoever gave him that sentence about the distinction between canzonets and madrigals "of which we can be but dimly aware" should be writing corsetry advertisements, not radio scripts. For all that the programme was worth while. It gave you some idea of the musical culture of the Elizabethans, who were, as.Marlowe put it, "melodious birds." Ne Swike Thu Naver Nu OME years ago Mrs. Grigg (as she then was) asked in Parliament why it was that for the purposes of winter milk prices, the length of the winter was fixed at six months for Auckland, four months for Wellington and Christchurch, and only three for Dunedin. I do not remember what the answer was, except that it had nothing to do with weather. And probably the Weather Office has had no hand in advising’ that the Winter Course Talks should end at the beginning of October in Christchurch, later in tiie month in Dunedin and Wellington, but not until November in Auckland, This, from Auckland, is not a complaint. If there is any wintry relic that will still be welcome in November it is these talks. Indeed I look forward to the day when they will take another name, and when the coming of summer will be no excuse for wrapping them up and putting them away with moth-balls. Will Hay ‘THE character of Dr. Muffin, as embodied on the radio in the person of Will Hay, is something so shudderingly familiar that it seems to demand an awed gasp from the listener, rather than a chuckle. The threadbare, gaunt figure of the antique pedagogue, hiding a lack of qualifications under a mask of plausible effrontery, and quicker to use his cane than his brain, is stich an epitome of the popular idea of a schoolmaster that it might well rank with Chaplin’s little man in being at the same time pathetic, humorous, and something in the nature of a critical comment and warning. "Tell me, Dr. Muffin," enquires the dread Board of Governors, "you have

been 30 years Head of the School?" "That’s right." "And in that time you have not altered .the school curriculum one iota?" "That’s right!" says Dr. Muffin, triumphantly sure of a rise in salary (of course he doesn’t get it-he never does). With this solemn warning before them, it may seem strange that there are people in our midst who still admire the Dr. Muffins, and would prefer all teachers to adhere to the What-was-good-enough-for-Me theory of education. But possibly such people don’t listen to the radio, and so do not know that their pedagogic ideal is so out-moded that it has now become a fit subject for light, if mordant, humour. At the Town Hall ‘THE public response in Auckland to a Grand Orchestral Concert was an unpredictable thing after all these years. We know now that the Town Hall will not be filled to the side walls for the type of programme that was offered by the NBS on November 3. The question is, will it take something higher or lower to lure tired people long distances from radio and chimney corner, and to drag the shillings from their pockets? We habitual radio listeners do not readily surrender our power of veto. If we do not like long operatic arias, Indian

love calls and other such scraps mixed with our symphonic music, we may prefer to stay home and switch off at these points, unless the orchestral music is of very tempting splendour. At this concert it was not, and a good rich symphony by Brahms or.Beethoven might have increased the size and warmth of the audience. In the one major offering of the evening, the Symphonie Espagnole, the aesthetic interests of the visible audience seemed to have been considered less than those of the invisible. With the soloist directly under the microphone, somewhat hedged in by the other strings, and the brass poised in high splendour just under the organ, the dress circle had no idea, until it reached home and consulted armchair listeners, that the balance had been in any way good, * * * It is because, in my optimism, I see the visit of the NBS orchestra as no isolated event, but rather the beginning of new musical habits, that I offer the foregoing criticism which might otherwise sound ungrateful. In the last few years radio and gramophone have made known the best symphonic music to a large audience. These people have been quietly educating themselves at home to good purpose and they know what they like. The situation bears no comparison with the one that confronted Sir Henry

_ Wood when he began his Promenade Concerts, and it cannot be met by offering the type of programme which he found it necessary to use at first. No Complaints ‘Two nights after the Grand Orchestral '- Concert in Auckland the NBS Strings were heard by themselves in the Concert Chamber and from 1YX. It was a warm evening and even the natives of Auckland felt that Summer had come in too suddenly, yet the visitors from Wellington, deep in a heavy list of engagements, dealt with this exacting music for strings without any signs of strain in playing or demeanour, The most polished work was in the NBS Quartet’s playing of Haydn, but there was good playing from the orchestra, too, though a lack of dynamic contrast was occasionally felt, particularly in the Bach concerto, There was a concertino by Pergolesi that went very well indeed, and that strange, elusive magic of Delius was truly captured for us in the Intermezzo and Serenade. Here Winifred Carter with her harp had a pretty opportunity, as she had also in a Serenade by Richard Strauss. In Armstrong Gibb’s "Peacock Pie" Ormi Reid handled the piano as a solo instrument as ably as she had kept it a humble member of the orchestra in earlier numbers. Altogéther it was a very pleasant.concert, and if the most exquisite playing was in the Haydn, the most colourful in the Armstrong Gibbs, quite the most cheerful item was Schumann’s "Ich Grolle Nicht" ("T’ll not complain") which was dealt with by the tenor Tony Rex and his accompanist Oswald Cheesman in such a way as to leave us assured that they would not only be filing no complaints, but had packed up all their troubles in an old kit bag. Modern Composers "THE first group of works by modern composers, selected from the recordings of well-known American symphony orchestras, was heard on a recent Sunday from 4YA, and included six very interesting works. I’m not sure that six new orchestral works isn’t just too many to listen to in succéssion; the tired ear naturally gives less attention to detail

as the programme proceeds, and at the end of three-quarters of an hour of unfamiliar music, discrimination is undoubtedly lesséned. I had already heard Still’s "In Memoriam," and Carpenter’s clever trifle, "The Anxious Bugler." Of the others in this particular series, Berezowsky’s "Christmas Festival" Overture seemed to me of more lasting worth than the others, but I must add that it was placed first on the programmeand position on the programme is as important to a composition as the place a racehorse draws in regard to the rails. Deems Taylor has a reputation as critic, and it was interesting to hear one of the fraternity departing from his company and actually writing music instead of talking about it. His music associated with "Peter Ibbetsen" had about it a romantic, dream-like quality quite in keeping with the subject-matter of that strange tale. Not So Dusty ‘THE 4ZB recital of records sung by the Combined Baptist Choirs in Dunedin was down in’ the printed. programme as "Dusty Labels." Possibly those listeners who were actively concerned with the Baptist Jubilee, now being held here, would know that this choral programme was to be presented. The rest of us just happened on it‘by accident, expecting something vastly different. The choirs, conducted by Mr. Desmoulins, gave an interesting collection of items, all of high standard. The programme began with Parry’s "Jerusalem" and ended with the Gloria from the work known as "Mozart’s Twelfth Mass." It might be said that certain sections of the choigs were not always in tune, and that occasionally (especially in the last item) the listener had the feeling that the singer were attempting something just too difficult for them. But such details of criticism were subordinate to the general atmosphere; when choirs amalgamate for the primary purpose of giving praise and enjoying the best in music, the result is infused with enthusiasm, and the pleasure which both performers and listeners get out of the performance is great. .