PERSONALITIES of the week

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 38, 29 March 1935, Page 28

PERSONALITIES

of the week

ALBERT AND ERIC. ; In present day’music the name of Coates is an honoured one. There are three" of them-the senior member is the yeteran Yorkshire tenor, John"Archantler John’ as Sir Edward Elgar named him. Then there is the © two conductors-Albert and Eric-the

latter also a composer of light music which enjoys a wide popularity. Albert is also doubly talented, being a singer as well as one of our finest orchestral conductors. Born in 1882, in St. Petersburg, where his father, a Yorkshire business man, had settled and married a Russian lady, Albert quit a stool in his father’s office for music. Eric-viola player, conductor and compeser, went on from strength to strength after a brilliant career as a student at the R.A.M. An orchestral and a chamber music player, Eric Coates understood music from the best of angles. MUNICIPAL MUSIC. It seems fitting that Doctor V. f&. Galway, a native of the ancient town of Colchester, (noted for two municipal assets, the largest Norman castle in England and its famous oyster beds), should dispense municipal music in Dunedin. The audiences at his city organ recitals on Sunday evenings run into thousands-that the recitals are free is neither the only, nor the main, reason for this fact, Dr. Galway just thoroughly understands his work and his audiences, Where so many organists fail he succeeds-far from being an organ-loft recluse, Dr, Galway has that eniality and infectious enthusiasm that advances music better than a whole alphabet of degrees. He lives, breathes, moves and hag his being in music, which is his profession, his hobby and his whole existance. BAND CHIEF. Flight Lieut. John Amers is the son of the late John H. Amers, who was well-known as a Musica] Director in Newcastle-on-Tyne. The conductor of the Band of H.M. Royal Air Force received his early musical education chiefly from his father ; his instruments being the violin, clarinet and bassoon, When quite a lad he joined. the 16th {Queen’s) Lancers, afterwards transerring to the Band of the 2nd Life Guards. He was the first N.C.O. of the regiment to be sent to Kneller Hall to qualify for bandmaster. After a course at the ‘‘Hal]’? he was appointed band-master of the 2rid. Batt. Devon Regiment in June 1901. In October, 1914 he was selected for the band- © mastership of the Sandhurst Royal Military College, and in 1918 was transferred to the Royal Air Force. from which Corps he received his commission in January 1919

87 NOT OUT! The name of Sir ‘Alexander Mackenzie, the honoured dozen of living British composers, denotes he comes of a hardy race, and to his Scots wit (Eby which he is so famous) he adds Sent: stamina and Scots grit. Otherwise hi would hardly have climbed all the way from the position of a humble orchestral player up to the post of Principal of the Royal Academy of Music. Yet they have reason on their side who say that he gave up to the R.A.M. what was meant for mankind, and it was characteristic of Sir Alexander himself to remark, when he laid down his office eleven years ago, that at last he hoped to be able tw ao a little composing. Radio listeners are familiar with his two sparkling Overtures-‘‘Britannia’’ and ‘‘The Little Minister.’ BEECHAM’S "ARRIVAL." Of training in music Sir Thomas Beecham had none except a few piano lessons when a boy at Rossall School. At Oxford he kad -a few lessons in theory from one of the college organists. For the rest he is practically self-taught. Yet, at 20, in the unavoidable absence of Dr. Hans Richter, he conducted a concert, without rehearsal, of the Halle Orchestra in a programme incorporating Beethoven’s ‘GC Minor Symphony,"’ Tschaikovsky’s ‘‘Pathetique Symphony,’"’ the ‘Tannhauser" and the ‘‘Master-singers’’ Overtures etc. etc. Sir Thomas (then young ‘Mr, Tom’’) Beecham had definitely arrived. At the moment he is conducting opera in Vienna. He invests all scores, be they operatic, syimphonic or oratorio, with a vividness and new life that electrifies players, singers and audience.