Balanced Singing

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 479, 27 August 1948, Page 13

Balanced Singing

GROUP of well-balanced and welltrained singers, introduced as the "4YA Studio Singers," recently gave a very pleasant half-hour programme consisting of Celtic Songs and Tales, the most effective of which, I thought, were the Hebridean folk-songs. No amount’ of repetition seems to stale the freshness of the appeal of these lovely melodies. These programmes from 4YA, of small choral groups in a series of recitals, have previously been most successful, and under the direction of Bertha Rawlinson and Meda Paine some programmes of great interest and high standard have been given. The Celtic programme was directed by John T. Leech, and I hope that it may be the first of a new series. I have always wondered at the musical mentality of those who like: Massed Choirs, Massed Bands, and so on, as though the larger the group the greater the effect. Large choral groups can be most unwieldy and seldom repay the conductor with any detailed nicety of singing. Especially are such groups ineffective on the radio, where difficulties of broadcasting from a large hall combine often to give a ragged and unsatisfactory effect. Station 4YA is to be congratulated, therefore, on the encouragement of compact groups of singers who can perform under studio conditions, whose voices can be chosen especially for blend and quality, and whose programmes can be especially arranged to fit the schedule of the evening’s broadcasts.