Virtuosity
NE of the most delightful and unrehearsed performances imaginable was given in a Brains Trust recently heard from 4YA, when Dr. Malcolm Sargent was called upon to answer an enquiry about musical instruments, ancient and modern. Why, the question ran, are modern instruments used in performances of old works; who are the modern experts who dare to alter, say, a Beethoven symphony, adding notes thereto which the composer did not write into the part? Very seriously and apparently without an idea of the effect he was creating Dr. Malcolm Sargent rapidly delivered a long and erudite monologue on the technique of instruments in general, their possibilities, compass, and effect, and finished by vocalising a horn passage as it might be played, first on
an ancient horn, then on a modern valvehorn. One longed for television to watch the amazed faces of the others members of the Brains Trust, who seemed uncertain whether to giggle or applaud. The question-master dryly summed up by suggesting that "The listener who asked the question will now know, at any rate, who the musical experts are!"
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19460712.2.28.1.8
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 368, 12 July 1946, Page 15
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182Virtuosity New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 368, 12 July 1946, Page 15
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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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