MUSIC
THE Australia-New Zealand- concert, given at the Festival Hall to speed the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on their journey to the Dominions, provided an astonishing display of the musical talent which comes from the other end of the world to expend itself in this country. Where would our operatic companies be without their Aus- tralian singers ? The chorus of sixteen soloists who on this occasion sang Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music furnished striking evidence of the quality of these voices, which would have been hard to match among our native singers. William Herbert and Inia Te Wiata sang solo numbers, and it was unfortunate. that a prior engagement at Covent Garden pre- vented Sylvia Fisher from appearing in the programme. The instrumentalists were Eileen Joyce, who played Franck's Sym- phonic Variations with great charm and polish ; Colin Horsley, whose virtuosity found congenial expression in Liszt's E flat concerto ; and Alan Loveday, who made the happy choice of Saint-Sans' Rondo Capriccioso. If this country benefits from the presence of all these extremely gifted artists, their home-countries are correspond- ingly the poorer ; and, with all the efforts being made to put the musical life of Aus- tralia and New Zealand on a sound footing, it is something of a tragedy that their most outstanding artists not only come to this country for their training but stay and make their careers here.
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The autumn opera season at Covent Garden opened the same night with a per- formance of Walkiire in German. In the act and a half that I heard before going to the Australia-New Zealand concert Ramon yinay made a good Siegmund, singing with a broad, round tone and with a style which has been formed at Bayreuth. There was a trace of Hollywood in some of his move- ments and gestures but in general he looked the heroic part very well. Sylvia Fisher was not in good voice that evening and her Sieg- linde, which has often been excellent, was rather colourless. Frederick Dalberg made the most human Hunding that I have ever Seen, a recognisable man and not the grisly bear of too many 'performances. Hans Hotter's Wotan was most impressive—the most dramatic study that he has given here of frustrated omnipotence. He used less voice than on former occasions, but used it with greater effect. Of the new Brunnhilde, Margaret Harshaw, it is hardly fair for me to speak ; but she had a fine Nordic pres- ence and from the little that I heard she seemed to have the right quality and range of voice and a good dramatic sense. Edith Coates's Fricka was unpleasantly strident in quality, a tactical error in any woman who has so many unpleasant things to'say to her husband. Under Fritz Stiedry the opening storm was tame and all the first act was rather under-played, though with great consideration for the singers. Things were getting much livelier before I left in the middle of Act Two, and the brass-,which had given us a very shaky Valhalla in Act One—had gained confidence.
MARTIN COOPER
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