The Week's Music..

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 798, 5 November 1954, Page 10

The Week's Music..

by

OWEN

JENSEN

os F the National Orchestra's joust with Ravel’s Bolero (YC link) came over the air anywhere near as effectively as it sounded in the Wellington Town Hall, it must have been something of a knockout. In the flesh it was both stupendous and stupefying. Someone tells me that this is the longest crescendo in any piece of music. I can well believe it. The immediate effect, on myself, anyway, was one of some small embarrassment as, knowing the inevitable conclusion, one waited in patience with a "must we go all through this again" feeling. It was a pleasant and not unprofitable pastime whiling away the bars with a consideration of Ravel’s skilful orchestration. In the hall there was, of course, the hypnotic effect of watching bunches of strings and percussion stirring up the implacable rhythm, What with this and the monotonous repetition of Ravel’s tune, becoming more and more insistent, one was left at the end a little like the punch-drunk boxer who, after 15 rounds of being knocked from post to pillow just had enough breath left to murmur: "Well, no one can say I can’t take it." James Robertson and the National Orchestra, as you may gather and probably heard, gave an electrifying performance. At least they could take it, for a repeat performance at a Lunchhour Concert next day (2YA) was even more zestful.

Donald Munro’s New Zealand Opera Group’s performance of Menotti’s The Telephone (2YC) is the sort of opera that fits the microphone. For one thing, there was no difficulty in following the story as there wasn't any to speak about -merely a passage of arms with the telephone. And with only two parts, well sung by Mary Langford and Donald Munro, no great strain was placed on the ear in picking out who was who, The clarity of the orchestral writing-and the playing, too-all helped to make this 20 minutes of good fun. The same goes, too, and even more so, for the second opera in the Group’s double bill, Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona, broadcast a few nights later (2YC). Listening to John Gray’s excellently produced New Records session (YC link), it was interesting to be reminded that Egmont was a man as well as a mountain, and that Beethoven’s wellknown overture on the subject was but a prelude to a further batch of incidental music for Goethe’s play. I’m still a little hazy as to what this Egmont fellow was up to in Goethe’s story, but at least Beethoven’s neglected music went nobly with the election address broadcast at the same time on the YA link. As a matter of fact, a little apprbpriately chosen music would considerably brighten the election campaign, I leave you to choose the pieces.