The Week's Music...

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 943, 6 September 1957, Page 8

The Week's Music...

by

SEBASTIAN

‘TAKEN up with our own country’s affairs, we pay surprisingly little attention to those of our big sister Australia, and this can apply to music, too, We hear Australian music seldom, and what there is is confined to a few of the better-known composers. I’m sure plenty of music is written there, but not much reaches our shores, whether from performance troubles or not I can only guess. At least one programme of their music has been heard lately, anyway; this was from the National Orchestra, who devoted a studio concert to Australian works (YC link). The composers’ names were familiar, and the music was not. John Antill’s "Outback Overture" bore little family resemblance to his Corroboree, but was rather more human and at times humorous, Alfred Hill’s symphony Australia is for the most part fairly conventional, though in the slow movement it reached considerable heights of orchestral beauty. The Xanadu Symphonic Suite by Robert Hughes proved to be of oriental splendour, with discordant dances which were still not offensive to the ear, and a fruity mass of percussion. These were all interesting, and the programme was an ambitious venture which I hope may be repeated. Speaking of ambition, the highest peak of the N.Z. Opera Company to

date. was.reached recently (YC link). Having gained plenty of experience in Menotti with short works like The Medium and’ The Telephone, they were now well equipped to essay the threeact tragedy The Consul. This is the composer’s most famous opera, and certainly one of his most poignant, in its triumph of petty tyranny; the style is, pure Menotti, dealing in rather poetic conversation rather than recitative, with impassioned song in place of mere aria, and demands intensely dramatic treatment, This it received from the cast and James Robertson, and the broadcast was notable for its even quality, though it was from a staged performance. The "star parts,’ Magda and John, were sung by Vincente Major and Donald Munro respectively, but I felt that much of the best work was heard in the other roles, notably the stonewalling Secretary in the person of Mona Ross, not to mention Terence Finnegan’s Magician. All the cast sounded at home in the work, and most of the singing carried conviction, With a successful performance of an opera like this behind them, the way should be open for our company to tackle other large and impressive works. I, for one, will be listening.