COMING UP FOR AIR

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 814, 4 March 1955, Page 20

COMING UP FOR AIR

HE Proms are ovet and by all accounts a good time was had by all. | This has been some of the brightest playing. we have had from the Orchestra in its summer seasons. Not the least happy aspects of the concerts were the wide and enjoyable array of soloists and the innovation of gttest conductors in three of the four cities, receiving the Orchestra, as it were, on their home grounds. It is this sort of thing that makes one remember again that the Orchestra is not only National but local, It belongs in heart and mind to the place in which it is playing. This week, however, the Orchestra is girding up its heart and mind, tightening its belts and bows and getting a fresh wind for the big round of concerts ahead of it-subscription concerts, visits to the provincial towns, school concerts, studio broadcasts. Between now and November the Orchestra will visit 15 places for some 67 concerts, playing an imposing repertoire of works. This is to say nothing of the studio broadcasts which it manages to fit in throughout the year, As you can see, ‘however enjoyable it may seem to spend one’s time tripping. along musically from. bar to bar, an orchestral player's life is by no means all beer. and skittles.

Next week the Orchestra will be taking time off from rehearsal of concert programmes to do a_ studio broadcast under the baton *of W. H. Walden-Mills (March 15, 2YC and 4YC). A newcomer to New. Zealand, Mr. Walden-Mills

was appointed-last year, if I remember rightly-director of music at King Edward ‘Technical College, Dunedin, following in the footsteps of Dr. Vernon Griffiths and Frank Calloway. Having been through Kneller Hall, the British Army college of music, Mr. WaldenMills knows his instruments well. The Kneller Hall man is not just a bandsman but. a musician who has had to undertake a comprehensive study of practical musicianship, I had the pleasure of attending one of the evening symphony rehearsals at the King Edward Technical College. It was obvious that W. H. Walden-Mills knew what he ‘ wanted from the music and how to get it from the players. His programme with the Orchestra will include Dvorak’s Carneval Overture, Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, and the prelude to The Mastersingers. We must have a look at the Dvorak and the symphony next week, but, glancing at the Barber Adagio, prompts the reflection that so many composers, almost all those of distinction,.no matter how many works they write which turn out masterpieces, always seem to produce one that catches the popular fancy. Barber’s Adagio is, I should think,

easily his most played composition. Well, after all, Sibelius, after looking at the manuscript, remarked: "I am glad to say that I consider this music excellent. It is good art, and especially I like its simplicity."

Owen

Jensen