RETURN OF A PRODIGY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 464, 14 May 1948, Page 7

RETURN OF A PRODIGY

Tour by

Richard

Farrell

EW ZEALAND has not been noted in the past for -_ . * * her but many will remember at least one in recent years whose ability gained for him the highest praise from overseas critics-Richard Farrell. Richard Farrell was a Wellington boy who went to Australia -while still . a youngster to train at the Sydney Conservatorium. _ Since 1945 he has been studying in America under Madame Samaroff-Stokowski. Next month he will return to New Zealand, no longer a pfodigy but a mature concert pianist, to tour the country under contract to the NZBS. He will give solo recitals and appear as guest artist with the National Orchestra, and his tour should be of particular local interest, for he is one of the few musicians whose study abroad has been financed by a Government grant.

ABC’s Fatherly Interest When he was at the Conservatoriumhe worked, by the way, under Alfred Hill and Sverjensky-Richard Farrell’s playing attracted the attention of Artur Rubinstein and Eileén Joyce, who predicted a great future for him, while the late Richard Tauber was so impressed with him that he made arrangements for him to go abroad. But unfortunately the war intervened, and Farrell had to remain in this part of the world until 1945. He returned to New Zealand for

a few months in 1939 to play over the air and at the Centennial Exhibition, and in’ 1942 he was back again giving a series of classical recitals from the ZB stations. Throughout his years of early train. ing in Australia he was encouraged by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, which took quite a fatherly interest in his career and presented him in "Yéung Australia" broadcasts, and at Young People’s Concerts. He was a finalist in the ABC Concerto Competitions in 1944, and was also associated in public concerts with Peter Dawson, Arnold Matters, and the English violinst Thomas Matthews. "Talented Young Man" During 1945 he was sent on an interState tour by the ABC, and played at symphony concerts in Hobart, Sydney, and Melbourne. A recital at the Sydney Conservatorium was reviewed by Neville Cardus, who described Farrell as "perhaps the most promising of young Australian pianists." He said: "Pianists are two-a-penny nowadays, but the possibilities or potentialities of Mr. Farrell should carry him beyond routine standards here, for his technical facility

is obviously supported by understanding of the materials of music, and the way it is put together, and the meaning of a composer’s style. So talented a young man must be encouraged and given every chance." Study in New York Shortly after this, on the recommendation of William Kapell, he was awarded a scholarship to study in New York with Kapell’s old teacher, Madame Samaroff-Stokowski, former wife of the conductor. His" last Australian concert was a two-piano recital with Noel Newton-Wood, at which they played music by Benjamin Britten, Stravinsky, ° and Bela’ Bartok. Some time before he sailed a letter appeared in an Australian paper suggesting the formation of a trust fund to help him live during the three years of his scholarship. It was signed by Sir Malcolm Sargent, Dr. Edgar Bainton, Neville Cardus, William Kapell, and Noel Newton-Wood, and the appeal was so successful that the Australian and New Zealand Governments decided also to, assist with financial grants. Success in New York

In May, 1946, he gave his first public concert in New York. It was considered a great personal triumph. "Until Farrell played," one critic said, "the atmos« phere in the Broadway auditorium was one of polite informality, but his performance of Copland’s modern Sonata was followed by a great wave of applause." The composer himself was said to be so impressed by his playing the work without a score that he complimented him on his feat of memory and on the manner in which ha approached and understood modern music. Madame Stokowski was reported to have said, "There is no Australian pianist of his type and age in the picturee He has a brilliant future." Of other recitals at which he appeared in the United States during this year and the 1947.48 season, critics commented generally on his depth and range of tone and his remarkable promise for one still barely 21, Richard Farrell will leave San. Fran cisco by air towards the end ‘of the month, and his first recital will be at Auckland on Tuesday, June 8,