In a recent post I quoted W.R. Anderson in The Gramophone magazine. He mentioned the Bax Festival which took place in 13 November 1922 at the Queen’s Hall in London. Fortunately for musical historians Edwin Evans was in attendance and wrote the following review for the Musical Times. No commentary is needed on this piece, save to mention that the two Christmas Carols seem to have disappeared from view. It must have been a fantastic concert.
It is raking up an old story to dwell upon the advisability or the reverse of devoting an entire concert to the works of one composer, but in this instance the hero of the adventure has come singularly well out of the ordeal, owing to the unusual variety of the works included in the programme; and his publishers, Messrs. Murdoch, who organized the concert at Queen's Hall on November 13, are to be doubly congratulated on its success, and on being able to present such a programme drawn exclusively from their own publications. Neither trouble nor expense had been spared in securing this satisfactory result.
The Goossens Orchestra with its conductor, the Oriana Madrigal Society under Mr. C. Kennedy Scott, Miss Harriet Cohen, Mr. Lionel Tertis, and Mr. John Coates constituted a formidable array of performers of the foremost rank. Even the programme itself was issued in a sumptuous form, and, what is perhaps equally important, was issued in advance.
Without injustice to other participants, it may be claimed that three events of the evening stand out prominently as in themselves sufficient to make the concert memorable. The first was a performance such as we have not had before of The Garden of Fand, revealing all the fascination of its orchestral texture. The second was the choral virtuosity with which the extremely difficult ‘Mater Ora Filium’, for double choir unaccompanied, was given by the Oriana singers. It is one of Bax's finest compositions, though in a branch of music in which his mastery was until recently unsuspected. The cumulative effect of the elaborate 'Allelujas ' was magnificently impressive. The third was Lionel Tertis's playing of the Viola Concerto, now called a Phantasy for viola and orchestra. It was a pity that the orchestra was not more fully occupied, for, returning after a long interval, it did not infuse the same spirit into the performance of an arrangement of the pianoforte piece, Mediterranean, which concluded the programme at a very late hour. The Oriana singers, however, showed no signs of flagging when they supplemented their earlier triumph with the two other carols ‘Of a Rose I sing’ (GP 234) and ‘Now is the time of Christymas’ (GP 247)
Miss Harriet Cohen is a pianist of great musical intelligence as well as technical attainments, but even in the smaller concert-halls the massive Sonata in G taxes her physical strength to the utmost. At Queen's Hall its demands went a little further, and could be met only by occasional sacrifices of rhythm. She was more successful with the smaller pieces, such as Lullaby and Burlesque. Mr. John Coates's contribution to the programme was, as always, entirely admirable. The effect of the concert as a whole must inevitably be to consolidate Bax's reputation with the general public, in which connection it was gratifying to note the crowded condition of those portions of the hall which are generally held to be the barometer of public interest. The selection of works was also well calculated to convey a much better impression of Bax's status than has hitherto been feasible. The inclusion of a Pianoforte Sonata was perhaps open to question, for no extended work in one instrumental colouring could possibly hold its own in a programme which included the multi-coloured Garden of Fand. The smaller pianoforte pieces and songs are of course not open to the same objection, as the listener readily adjusts himself to the enjoyment of a group of miniatures between larger works. One point was definitely established: Bax's feeling for beauty in line and texture is of a kind that does not quickly satiate. E. E.
The Musical Times December 1922 [with minor edits]
0 comments:
Post a Comment