Concert Publicity

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 434, 17 October 1947, Page 11

Concert Publicity

HEN that rare type of visiting artist, a violin virtuoso, comes to play for us, it is all the more satisfying to have him preceded by the kind of radio publicity which has been given Isaac Stern. After all, what we really want to know about an artist are not so much the details of his (or her) personality, taste, concert tours in other countries, etc., but rather "What does his (or her) playing (or singing) sound like?" The Isaac Stern publicity organisers answered this question for us by playing for us many of his and Alexander Zakin’s recordings, especially the works to be performed on their New Zealand tour. In any case at least the publicity attained its object, as I changed my mind about the Dunedin concett and attended it only after I had heard the artist on the radio and had decided that he was too good to miss. Another point of publicity about this tour, which might well be copied by future sponsors of artists, was the selling of concert programmes in advance from the box-office. One of the persistently annoying things about visiting artists is the regularity with which they refuse to publish any details about the works to be performed-until, perhaps, the day of the performance-so that, in most cases, one just books a Seat for A Concert, without knowing what composers are likely to be represented therein. Persistent connoisseurs can make a point of acquiring a programme before the concert from other sources than the newspapers, but it is a sad reflection on the public taste that most concert-goers are content to book their seats and wait patiently till they find out what they are going to hear.