MUSIC OF THE WEEK

Radio Record, 12 August 1938, Page 24

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

BY

SCHERZO

There is no art without life, >There is no life without growth, oom There is no growth without change, There iz no change without contra

versy_

Frank

Rutter

HEN O. H. Murfield, reviewing the desperately poor. houses at Alexander Kipnis’s concerts throughout New Zealand, wrote a special article in the "Record" suggesting that the brows of the cultural set were high only because they were bald, he omitted one point-the point that flesh-and-blood listening is always . better than radio. I believe profoundly in the force of radio (and not only because I am supposed to be a critic). But I am quite certain that the best way to judge a performer is in the theatre or hall. Many are flattered by the microphone; others, like Lotte Lehmann (and Kipnis), lose something of their vital appeal, as their notes skip miracnlously through space. bad bead % [HIS week, Lawrence Tibbett begins his New Zealand tour with the very good prospect that his recitals will be stormed by the public. But even the scores and probably hundreds who attended his concerts because it’s the social thing, will have the satisfaction of hearing him under the best conditions. Thé musical public which so brutally cold-shouldered Kipnis, missed that satisfaction; I regret I cannot Offer it my sympathy. Maybe, if the VBS continues its policy of importing first-rank artists, the public will at last realise that flesh-and-blood is. finer than a condenser, J) ASON found the Golden Fleece; as the rotary presses roll their way through this issue, I must report that My search for a well-balanced radio choir is almost as hard a job as Jason had before Hellas went off the gold standard. And there are no Medeas to waylay me, either. Last week, I heard the Auckland Madrigal Choir performing 16th century works by some of ihe finest madrigal composers: at least, I heard a iine body of sopranos and a fine body of tenors, The altos and the basses were distressingly fond of reading pp for ff. What they read for pp I haven’t the least idea. Maybe they thought it means a rest. A pity, be eause the skilfully-chosen programme contained some of the finest in madrigal music and the part singing by the Sopranos and tenors was generally good. Moreover, John Tait’s conducting was precise in its reading, though more care should have been exercised in some of the erescendos and diminu-

endos, As they were taken, they resembled, a sudden shout, & a a T_YNDALL GREAGER’S soprano solos from 2YA inclined to the eharacterless at odd moments and tremolo was present rather too often to be excused. Other faults included a scooping, best exemplified by "toeryou," and the old one of carrying the note on to the catch of the breath. The upper register, too, had a tendency to thinness, though in its behalf I may say it did not squeak-a merit in contrast to other radio singers, Miss Greager has a voice and the elimination of the elementary faults which preclude its best development should be her first step in a campaign for better singing, xe x * I REMEMBERED the famous judgment of Mr. P. Kerry at the band championships at Nelson a couple of years ago-‘‘I’ve never heard bands. so damnably out of tune in my life’when listening to the Wanganui Garrison Band’s "Desert Song" selection from 2YA. Because there were definite occasions when the band veered out of tune. Rather too many, in fact, for a band of its class. The cornets often jacked colour and their shape to a nore was frequently insufficient. Other selections, I must admit gladly, were better (lone. On the night that the Ashburton Silver broadeast from 3YA, 2YC was presenting its weekly recorded band hour and switching between the twe was not always in favour of Ashburton. Nevertheless, the band played uncommonly well at times. I should have liked, however, a rather more humorous interpretation of "The Joker," for the reading was ever-careful and the trom. bone soloist insufficiently smooth with his slide % By x. A MELANCHOLY note in the "Record" a couple of weeks ago mentioned the impossibility of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Choir’s perpetuation: Not so melancholy was the performance of the choir from 4YA last Monday. Schubert's lovely "Am Meer," for instance, was performed with admirable fidelity. I was not so satisfied with Speaks’s setting of-"On the Road to Mandalay": the tempo was so slow that each syllable needed accent, a tedious operation faintly recalling the parrot ery of schoolboys giving birth to poetry. Tremolo occasionally spoilt the otherwise satisfactory delivery of R. Duerdon, the soloist, in "Benediction of the Alps," by Baidamus; its elimination

would make his voice most pleasant. I trust that the melancholy certainty of dwindling numbers among the choir will be averted as long as possible. a * % "IVA. (Opunake) asks a question the reply to which may be of general interest to readers. He writes: "Can you tell me briefly the difference between sonata and sonata-form?" Sonata-form is quite a different thing from a sonata. Sonata-form is the form in which tirst movements and and sometimes other movements of a sonata, symphony or chamber music work is generally written, A movement written in sonata-form consists of three parts. The first section announces two principal subjects linked by the bridge. It-is an exposition of related themes, which is developed in the second section and recapitulated in the third. This is a comparatively bald explanation of simple sonata-form but will probably serve. The term sonata-form applies equally well to the first movement of a piano sonata, a violin ‘sonata, a chamber music ¢composition or a symphony. All those compositions are practically one and the same thing as regards their form.