Familiarity Breeds Appreciation

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 439, 21 November 1947, Page 11

Familiarity Breeds Appreciation

PERGOLES?’S Stabat Mater was an unknown work, so far as radio listening .is concerned, until quite recently, when a recording began to go the rounds of the stations. This is by the Nottingham Oriana Choir, with Joan Taylor and Kathleen Ferrier as soloists,

and the Boyd Neel Orchestra. It was a coincidence that the Cecilia Choir, of Dunedin, recently gave the same work with organ accompaniment from First Church, a performance which compared very favourably indeed with the recordings mentioned. Having heard Stabat Mater three times now on the radio, I find its appeal increasing with each hearing. It has the fresh, charming quality typical of Pergolesi’s music, and yet parts of it, particularly in some of the choruses, display great depth and power, Longer works such as this may well be played as many times as possible from as many stations as possible; although at first hearing such a work does appeal through its immediate beauty, its full value is not appreciated until it becomes thoroughly familiar, Many recordings of interest seem, on the contrary, to go the rounds of’ the stations only once, after which they are apparently shelved, What, for instance, became of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, which after the initial furore of its performance has not been heard-at least, not from any station in my vicinity? Although I would not recommend too frequent performances of this particular work, which is so cataclysmic that the shock of it should not be administered too often to listeners, yet I am sure that it is time it was brought out of obscurity once again.