The Fiddle and the Bow
\IVIEN DIXON, broadcasting from 1YA on April 18, gave us some very satisfying violin playing. Eighty-four
parts, so I am told, go towards the making of a violin. Wood, gut, some metal, and a hank of hair. There it lies, Strad or factory fiddle, dormant, maybe beautiful to the eye, but soundless. Fingers on strings, hair drawn across, the wood springs to life and dissolves into disembodied tone. More than any other instrument, more even than viola or ’cello, the violin reflects the heart and mind of the player, "his alone to choose, whose fingers take the dead wood, and make his singers." Vivien Dixon’s playing is silver, the tone unmarred by those scratchings and scrapings when the wood "jis wounded with the sense of mortal things." Phrasing breathless but articulate, rhythms alive. The pieces were trifles, but the playing, especially in Debussy’s "En Bateau," gave them a new significance.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19460510.2.30.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 359, 10 May 1946, Page 14
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155The Fiddle and the Bow New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 359, 10 May 1946, Page 14
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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.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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