"PENNY ORCHESTRA"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 461, 23 April 1948, Page 20

"PENNY ORCHESTRA"

Queensland State Quartet’s Tour

| HOSE who are accustomed | to paying high prices to hear | recitals by visiting musical celebrities will be interested to know that across the Tasman they | sometimes have different ideas on | the question of prgviding culture, in the 'forth of classical music, for the people. | About four years ago in Queensland, for instance, a benevolent State Government | organised a chamber music ensemble to | give free performances throughout the | country of the best classical music _ played by four of Australia’s best string | players. They called this group the | Queensland State String Quartet, and | because all its concerts were free, it soon _became popularly known as the "penny | orchestra." The penny was for a booking | fee, and all other costs, including salaries | for the players, travelling expenses, and | the hiring of halls, were paid by the | State. Government. New Zealand audiences will"have opportunities of hearing the Queensland /State Quartet during the next two | months, when they will tour the. principal centres giving recitals and broadcasting over the main National stations. Their first broadcast will be from 1YA

on Sunday, May 2, when they will play (at 9.33 p.m.) ‘Beethoven’s Quartet No. 5 in A major. Recordings by the Queensland Quartet, which is considered, by the way, to be among, the best chamber music groups in Australia, have already been broadcast by the NZBS, but this is the first time they have actually visited this country. Their leader is an Australian violinist, Richard Llewellyn, and-a point of local interest-the second violinist, Harold Taberner, is a New Zealander. David Powell plays the viola, and Don Howley the ’cello. The Quartet was originally formed in 1944 with the idea of developing musical appreciation in children, but its scope was quickly extended to include adult audienées. It does not, however, confine itself to giving highbrow concerts in the big Australian cities, but has played during the four years of its existence to all

kinds of audiences, in canefields, mining centres, and pastoral areas all over the country. This has entailed much _ longdistance travelling, and to reach places. like Cloncurry, Longreach, and Mt. Isa, the players have had to go three thousand miles. But they say that these jour- | neys are really worth while, especially as many of the audiences also have to travel long distances to hear them. Fifty miles is said to be quite common, and many people travel up to a hundred miles just to hear one performance. Although the Quartet began with a repertory of standard classical works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and others, their programme has since been extended to take in the chamber music of many modern composers, including Ravel, Bax, Hindemith, Prokofieff and Bartok. Among the recordings they have made, one of the most notable is of Alfred Hill’s Quartet No. 2 (the Maori), and the accompanying photograph was taken during rehearsals in a Sydney recording studio. In addition to their broadcasts and recitals in New Zealand, the Queensland State String Quartet hopes to include several special broadcasts for school children. °

Posers, Penalties and Profits \WitH prizes in hand to the, value of, about £3,000, the Commercial Service of the NZBS has closed its list of donations for Posers, Penalties and Profits, to open at the Empire Theatre, Dunedin, on Thursday, April 22. The show, on the lines of the American Truth or Consequencés programme will occupy half an hour on the stage during picture screenings in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland and Palmerston North (with a second visit to the four main centres), taking up nine weeks in all.°The' dates are: Christchurch, April 29; Auckland, May 6; Wellington, May 13; and Paimerston North, May 20. Repeat performances will be staged at Dunedin on May 27; Christchurch, June 3; Auckland, June 10; and Wellington, June 17. All ZB stations will broadcast the show at 9.0 o’clock.