New Zealand Composer

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 435, 24 October 1947, Page 16

New Zealand Composer

S a critic and writer on musical subjects, L. D. Austin is so well-known that it would be well nigh impossible for one of his readers to approach his broadcast from 4YA (recordings of some of his compositions, played by the composer), without preconceived ideas. Mr. Austin has made it known with such force that he scorns all signs and symbols of modernism, that it comes as no surprise to find him writing music that

owes its inspiration to nothing later than 1900. We all have our hall-mark stamped on our products; Mr. Austin’s is legibly, discerned as "Romantic," and he will not be annoyed, I am sure, if I say that I find in his compositions the invisible imprint of the hands of Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Liszt. Of the three pieces, played by Mr. Austin himself, I liked best the first, called "Duetto," a charming combination of melodies over an elaborated harmonic basis. The publication in New Zealand of musical compositions is a risky business, and this is as good a place as any to remind teachers of pianoforte that they could encourage such publication by including suitable compositions by New Zealanders in the repertoires of their pupils. Being of clearly-defined form and very melodic, .these three pieces by L. D. Austin would, I am sure, appeal to piano students advanced enough to manage their difficultiesnaturally, I except those whose tastes run.in the direction of Prokofieff rather than of Schumann!