In Honour of Mozart

New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 869, 29 March 1956, Page 15

In Honour of Mozart

‘HE bicentenary of Mozart’s birth will be marked by the NZBS during the next six months with broadcasts of outstanding works from YC stations at 9 o’clock every Friday night. Some of the works will be recorded, others will be played by New Zealand artists; and the broadcasts will give listeners an opportunity to hear many works seldom heard in Néw Zealand. The first programme, on April 6, will include Walter Gieseking (piano) presenting early Minuets and the Variations K.24 and 25. The major work is the Great Mass- in C Minor, K.V.427, sung by Rose Schweiger and Hertha Toepper (sopranos), Hugo. Meyer-Wel-fing (tenor) and George London (bass), with the Akademie Chorus of Vienna, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Anton Heiller (organ). The complete works for piano solo played by Walter Gieseking will be one of the outstanding features of the bicentenary programmes. Broadcasts of these will be spread throughout the series. The pianist has admitted that in making the recordings he had some difficulties with the few works he should have known better than all the others. "Having lost the complete freshness of approach," he says, "I could not immediately return to the spontaneous and inspiring pleasure, and the independence of feelee a ee a ae

ing, which were such a great help in all the music that I had fread and studied just enough to be well acquainted with every detail." Programmes to be broadcast between now and the end of September will range over the whole field of Mozart’s work. Among major works, three of the Masses will be heard-the Mass in C Minor, the Requiem Mass and the Coronation Mass; and there will be broadcasts of the Lorentine Litany in D, the Masonic Music and the complete incidental music to Thamos, King of Egypt. Fifteen of the sonatas for violin and piano will be played by New Zéaland artists, a number of the concertos will be played by New Zealand artists with the National Orchestra, and during the Auckland Festival an entire concert will be devoted, to the music of Mozart. This concert will, of course, be broadcast. Among music which is rarely heard will be a number of Mozart songs. Other works included in the programmes are the set of seven piano trios, the Trio

for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, K.598, the Quintet for Piano and Wind, the Quartet in D Major for Flute and Strings, K.285, and some of the early string quartets, Besides the music, the programmés will include talks on aspects of the composer's life and work.