Butterfly and Elephant
NEW recording on the air is a "Suite Selected from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book," arranged for orchestra by Gordon Jacob. It contains three pieces by William Byrd-the Earle of Oxford’s "March, Pavana, and The Bells. These arrangements are in better taste than many revivals of antiquity; but even at the best, the effect of transcribing harpsichord music for that modern carnivorous animal, the symphony orchestra, can be little other than grotesque. Some sort of argument can be put up for the transcription of organ works but nothing can be said in favour of tampering with the delicate sounds of the harpsichord. The most that can be said of this transmogrification of butterflies into elephants is that it is characteristic of an age which has produced skyscrapers, super-battleships, super-tanks, super-tax and: much superficiality. *
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 381, 11 October 1946, Page 10
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135Butterfly and Elephant New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 381, 11 October 1946, Page 10
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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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