GIFTED CELLIST

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 520, 10 June 1949, Page 20

GIFTED CELLIST

HE news that Peers Coetmore, the well-known ’cellist, and her famous composerhusband, E. J. Moeran, are likely to settle in New Zealand, should give lively satisfaction to those of us who for, some reason or another, have resisted the temptation to seek culture in its ancient haunts. Peers Coétmore is at present under contract to the NZBS to give recitals from the four main stations, from 1YZ Rotorua, and 2YZ Napier, and is taking advantage of her tour to have a good look at the landscape, for, she said, beautiful scenery (and she has noticed plenty of it in New Zealand) is far more important to her husband as a composer than the stimulus of being, musically . speaking, in the centre of things. Peers Coetmore is of Irish-Welsh de-scent-she received her unusual first name from a Welsh uncle — and the music of the Celtic school has a special appeal for her. Among her favourite

works is the Concerto in B Minor for Piano and Violoncello, written spécially for her by E. J. Moeran, after he had attended one of her concerts, and given to her as a wedding present. Another of her favourites is the Bax Legend Sonata. Peers Coetmore hopes to give New Zealand audiences four out of the five Beethoven sonatas, and the Brahms A. Major. In the modern field there is her husband’s own Sonata in A Minor. Peers Coetmore began her musical education at the age of five when she began to learn the piano. When she was 10 she attended a concert and fell in love with the ’cello, though she still keeps up her piano playing and always studies a new work on the piano first. She first began playing in concerts when she was 16, and entered the Royal Academy the same year. Later she went to Spain and studied at the famous Casals School, and then with Feuermann at Zurich. She made her London debut at 21, and has since played with all the leading British orchestras, as well as given countless recitals. During the war she drove an ambulance, and later toured the Middle East with ENSA. Her ‘cello, valued in America at £2,000, is a 1723 Godriller, discovered by a collector in a monastery near Madrid. It had a narrow escape during the blitz, being recovered intact in its case in a house almost completely gutted by fire. E. J. Moeran is at present in London, writing a symphorfiy which is to have its first performance at the Cheltenham Festival next year. Peers Coetmore will probably return to England to fulfil her BBC contract, after which both she and her husband will probably return to New Zealand. Peers Coetmore has already broadcast from 1YA Auckland. She will be heard from 2¥Z Napier, on Sunday, June 26, Wednesday, June 29, and Thursday, June 30; from 3YA Christchurch, on Monday, July 4, Wednesday; July 6, and Friday, July 8; from 4YA Dunedin, on ‘Sunday, July 10, Monday, July 11,

Thursday, July 14; from 2YA on Sunday, July 17, Tuesday, July 19, Thursday, July 21; and from 1YZ Rotorua, on Monday, July 25, Wednesday, July 27, and Friday, July 29. In addition

Peers Coetmore will be heard in a quartet from 2YA with Ruth Pearl (lst | violin), Alex Lindsay (2nd violin), and Winifred Styles (viola), on June 14 and June 16.