NATIONAL ORCHESTRA PROGRAMMES
Sir,-The programmes of the National Orchestra are rarely above criticism, and the one presented to Wellington citizens on October 22 cannot be allowed to pass without comment. It consists of three works. Beethoven’s third "Leonora" overture, Rachmaninoff’s$ third piano concerto, and the first symphony of Brahms. The first and last items were given in 1947, again both in the same ¢oncert, and the Brahms was given last year. Why the repetition? The Rachmaninoff has never been played here before, and of course is excluded from the following remarks. Now surely the object of a National Symphony Orchestra is to develop the public taste and appetite for symphonic music. How can it possibly do this when the repertoire in any centre is thus restricted? I have no quarrel with Brahms, but to most listeners he is dull stuff compared with Beethoven, Tchaikovski or Mozart. We have already had a Brahms symphony this season, and when the orchestra can only give us three concerts, that one is quite enough. The Beethoven symphonies are far more varied in style and content, and are far more popular; yet only two, the sixth and seventh, have ever been played here. The "Eroica"’ and the fifth are both
"sure-fire." We have heard them from our orchestra only over the air. 3 almost any week we can hear moré competent performances of these works om records, which is just as good as hearing a relayed broadcast-usually much better. The chief virtue of having our own orchestra is that we hear the music "in the flesh," which inevitably makes it come far more alive, especially to our unsophisticated audiences. We want a full sampling of the symphonic repertoire-and there is a large one within the grasp of the orchestra. It is futile and destructive to make the orchestra waste time in reHearsing music beyond its capabilities. And repetition of last year’s programmes is not g enough. ’
H. J.
STEELE
(Wellington).
(Abridged.
Ed.)
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 543, 18 November 1949, Page 7
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327NATIONAL ORCHESTRA PROGRAMMES New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 543, 18 November 1949, Page 7
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