JUDGE'S COMMENTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 24, Issue 622, 1 June 1951, Page 14

JUDGE'S COMMENTS

HEN the final notes of Eric Coates’s ballet suite, The Jester at the Wedding, faded off the. air at half-past eight one recent Wednesday evening, Will Hutchens, well-known music teacher and Festival judge, laid down his baton after nearly fifteen years as conductor of the 3YA Studio Orchestra. "There have, of course, been many changes in that time,’ Mr. Hutchens told The Listener before he left for Australia a fortnight ago. "Over the years players Have gone on to the ABC, the BBC and the Boyd Neel Orchestra, and about a dozen are members of the National Orchestra," Twenty-five years as a judge at. the annual Competitions Festivals in towns of the North and South Islands have given Will Hutchens many opportunities of comparing musical tastes and tendencies in the different centres. "The average competitor," he said, "is much the same, but certain characteristics of the individual places become. apparent over the years-Dunedin’s vocal talent is paralleled by the pianistic leadership of Christchurch, and both must bow to Napier when it comes to violin-playing." Festival judging has taken Will Hutchefis across the Tasman a number of times, and twice in recent years he

was chief choral and vocal judge at the City of Sydney Wisteddfod, where as many as 15,000 candidates from all over Australia compete. The National Festivals, such as the Eisteddfod of Australia at Ballarat in 1947, with its recognised standing and big prize money-400 guineas for the Vocal Award, have always attracted the cream of Australian and New Zealand singers. From the ‘Ballarat Festival many have sung their way to fame-in the early days Peter Dawson and Amy Castles, and more recently John Brownlee and New Zealand’s Denis Dowling. The latter, Will Hutchens remembers, made his first competition appearance at an Oamaru Festival. "Incidentally," Mr. Hutchens added, "the number of fine singers that Australia produces is no accident-it is due to a climatic factor." The Comnmrenwealth has _ special claims on Will Hutchens. His wife, herself a church organist of note, is the daughter of a well-known organ-builder in Australia. His brother Frank (who, with Lindley Evans, presented a series of two-piano recitals here in 1946) is a senior professor at the Sydney Conservatorium. . For the next twelve sonths Will Hutchens is to conduct the Sydney North Shore Choral *Society and Sym-

phony Orchestra. This is a joint organisation, but both sections-the choir of 60 and the orchestra of 40-50 members operate separately as well as together. Will Hutchens has studied the classics and loves them, but, he told The Listener, he is no musical snob. He realises there is much enjoyment to be had out of lighter works, and that a big part of the listening public look to such music for entertainment and relaxation. "Bach is, of course, part of every musician’s Bible," he said, "but it is only one book-there are others."