Eight Days of Music

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 529, 12 August 1949, Page 9

Eight Days of Music

PART from’ two lunch-hour recitals, one by the National Orchestra and one of chamber music, tha complete programme for the Auckland Music Festival will be broadcast by 1YA, beginning with the official opening and inaugural concert in the Town Hall at 2.45 p.m. this Sunday, August 14, and ending with the final event, a Chopin recital by Peter Cooper, to be held in the Town Hall Concert Chamber at 2.45 p.m, on the following Sunday, August 21. The Deputy Mayor, Mr, Leonard Coakley, will open the Festival and the first concert will include items ,by the Auckland Silver Band, Saint Mary’s Choir, Joseph Battersby the Hamilton tenor, and Trevor Sparling at the Grand Organ, All the evening concerts will be broadcast on relay from the Town Hall, and will begin at 8.0 p.m. There will be two concerts by the National Orchestra, conducted by Andersen Tyreron Monday, August 15, and on Thursday, August 18, and the lunch hour recital on Wednesday, August 17; which will be broadcast by 1YD. In addition the Orchestra will be associated with the Royal Auckland Choir and the Auckland Choral Society in their performance of Elgar’s Caractacus on Saturday, August 20. On this occasion too the conductor will be Andersen Tyrer. The soloists will be Constance Manning, Stewart Harvey; Joseph Battersby, and Ashley Pollock. During its Monday concert the Orchestra will give the first public performance of Fantasia and Fugue by the Auckland. composer and conductor, Harry Luscombe, while the major work of the evening will be Symphony No. 4 in E Minor (Brahms). On Thursday the major work will be Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and Peter Cooper

will be the solo pianist in a presentation of Grieg’s Concerto in A Minor for piano and orchestra. A combined concert on ‘Tuesday, August 16, by the Dorian Singers, Lyric Harmonists, Ladies’ Choir, and Girls’ Choral Class, conducted by Claude Laurie and Harry Luscombe, will include Sing Ye to the Lord (Bach), and The Blacksmith (Dyson). The Dorian Singers will present Benedicite, by Vaughan Williams. dg = An annual event in the Auckland secondary schools’ musical calendar (when polio permits), a concert by massed school choirs conducted by Professor MHollinrake, and a combined

schools’ orchestra conducted by Gordon Cole, will take placé on Wednesday, August 17, This year interest has been so keen that three concerts are to be given instead of the usual one, and so many ‘pupils have offered for the choirs that two groups have been formed representing most of the secondary schools in the Auckland metropolitan area, The first two concerts, by. Group A, which are not on the official festival programme and will not be broadcast, will be on Thursday, August 11, at 8.0 p.m., and on Tuesday, August 16, at 2.0 p.m. Group B will give the festival concert, while the orchestra, whose members The Listener was told, have demonstrated a

boundless enthusiasm, will play at all three concerts. Thursday’s programme will include a Youth Concert, and a _ récital by the Auckland String Players, who will give. the first Auckland performance of Diversions by the New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn. The former will include Haydn’s Divertimento for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and_ bassoon, played by members of the woodwind ensemble class conducted in Auckland by George Hopkins under the auspices of the Adult Education Centre. The soloists will be Dorothy Hopkins (soprano), Murray Gronwell (violin), Ronald Maconaghie (baritone), and Barbara Jury (piano). Tongan, Samoan

and Cook Islands students of Wesley College, Paerata, will give a recital of Polynesian music and dances. "A modest beginning, but one which we hope will whet the musical appetite of Aucklanders at least, and perhaps that of people much further afield," was the assessment of the Festival given to» The Listener by Julius Hogben, chairman ‘of the organising authority, the Auckland Music Council. The Council was formed in May of last year, and its objects include (besides conducting an annual festival) co-ordination of the activities of all music societies in the city to the best advantage of both the music-lover and the societies. themselves; raising funds with which to assist students by scholarships and other means; encouraging young performers and composers; and» in general doing (continued on next page)

MUSIC AT AUCKLAND (continued from previous page) everything possible locally to develop the production and appreciation of music, This Festival. is the Council’s first major effort. "It is by no means a grandiose affair, and was to a great extent made possible only by the cooperation of the National Orchestra and the NZBS," said Mr. Hogben, "but we hope that in time the annual Auckland Festival will hold a recognised place in

our national life and will attract people from all over New Zealand. We hope, too, to attract leading overseas artists. But at the same time the Council believes encouragement of the young people is most important. I think the quality of the performance at this year’s Youth Concert will surprise the public. Another; aim is to give music the public has not heard before, and to make better use of local resources. For example. a Bach motet which hag lain in the Municipal Library for 20 years without ever being taken ‘out will be performed at the Festival, and there

all are several items, including the Benedicite, which have not been performed here before." "You are already thinking about next year’s Festival?" "Yes, we expect that preparations for it will begin almost as soon as this one is over." ; Auckland may not present the wholehearted festival appearance this year of, say Edinburgh, or Cheltenham, where the whole city joins in the annual Music Festival, in devious ways, but with tremendous enthusiasm. -"No doubt it is a little soon fo expect that here," said Owen Jensen, a member of the Council executive who has recently attended overseas festivals, "In Edinburgh the city is ‘dressed’ for the occasion with flags and bunting, light standards in Princes Street are decorated, shops and department stores all carry special displays, many of them providing elaborate floral decorations at their own expense, and there are even strings of pennants flown from tram trolly-poles. "It would be rash to say that everyone there is interested in music, but at least they all believe the Festival is an important cultural event and one which the whole city should~ support. Compared with those events our own Festival is a minor affair, but it is to be hoped its impact will in time come to be felt not only by the audiences, but also far beyond the concert hall. We hope the Festival’s effects will in time be reflected in the general attitude of the whole community here, just as whole communities are affected .overseas."