The Music Society

PROGRAMME OF RECITAL by ARTHUR MILLINOTON (tenor) and CLIFFORD WALKER (violin) accompanied by FREDERIC WAINE I. Songs from Oratorio (a) "I follow Thee" from "The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ C. P. E. Bach (1714-1788) (b) "If with all your hearts" from "Elijah" Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

2. Violin Solos (a) Gavotte from Suite for unaccompanied violin in E. 3. S. Bach (1685-1750) (b) Rondo Mozart-Kreisler (1756-1791)

3. Lieder (a) Adelaide

Beethoven (1770-1827) (b) Heiden Roslein Das Wandern (in German) Schubert (1797-1828) (c) Serenade Love Song (in English) Brahms (1833-1897) 4. Sonata for Pianoforte and Violin Op. 45 in C minor Grieg (1843-1907) (i) Allegro molto ed appassionato (ii) Allegretto espressive alla Romanza (iii) Allegro animato 5. English Songs and Folk Tunes (a) As ever I saw Piggesnie Peter Warlock (1894-1930) (b) Mistress Mine To Daisies Roger Quitter (1877-1953) (c) The Plough Boy The Sally Gardens arr. Britten (b. 1913)

This was an exquisite and well-balanced evening's entertainment, but although the programme had been published well in advance, the attendance was disappointingly low. Those who did manage to release themselves from the unavoidable tie of work thoroughly enjoyed themselves throughout a programme packed tight into the ninety minutes between 6-30 and 8-0 p.m.

Arthur Millington sang three contrasting groups of songs : arias from oratorio, some folk songs and works from the twentieth century English renaissance, and some lieder of Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms. The lieder were the highlight of the vocal items. Mr. Millington displayed a fine tone; I shall not describe his performance in all the works, but I must make reference to the Schubert, which was undoubtedly the best of the three lieder. It was sung with excellent feeling, and the exacting accompaniment was virtually without blemish. Mr. Millington sang for his encore Dr. Arne's "When icicles hang by the wall", which ran to the length it did only by a rather tedious repetitiveness.

Clifford Walker played two groups with his inimitable impishness and precision. The first group contained the unaccompanied gavotte by J. S. Bach and the Mozart-Kreisler Rondo. There was a certain amount of irregular ensemble in the Rondo, but the performance was very alive.

Mr. Walker's main contribution to the concert was the sonata Op. 45 in C minor by Grieg. This music was written at the height of the romantic era, and is exceptionally thick and rich and rather orchestral in quality. The violin part is very "showy", particularly in the first movement, which finished amidst round upon round of applause. After the lyrical second movement, however, the audience had absorbed the tradition of the concert-room, and they saved their relaxation until the end.

Looking back on this concert the impression lingers of a very smooth and hitchless evening of pure, almost perfect music-making.

I should like to thank, on behalf of the Music Society, Arthur Millington who came over from Leeds specially for our concert, Mr. Walker, who interrupted an attack of influenza to come and play to us, and Mr. Waine, without whose reliable accompaniment and able introduction of the performers no such recital could be perfected. W.B.H.

The second Music Society concert was given on Saturday 21st November, in Big Hall. It was presented and arranged by members of the School.

The programme started with a short lecture on Moussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" by J. M. Grainger, in which he dealt briefly and ably with the biography of the composer and indicated the composer's aim in composition, which he labelled as "revolutionary". Having whetted our appetite, he then played the "Pictures" on the new Long Playing record with Ravers orchestration. By pointing to the titles of the various "pictures" (which he had written up in advance) Grainger was successful in "putting across" a highly-coloured and individual piece of music, which is, however, far from easy to understand at the first hearing

The rest of the programme was "live". Bloomfield was competent but did not sound altogether happy in his Debussy Prelude. The Glee Club (self-trained) gave some well-prepared performances of items from their repertoire, which contains pieces as far apart in musical style as "Sing we and chaunt it" by Pearsall and "All in an April evening" by 'Roberton. In his excellent and pithy introductory remarks, Sutton showed some uneasiness about the latter. This periodpiece of the hay-day of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir can easily sound trite and sentimental and it shows much for the Glee Club's skill that the weaknesses were not more apparent. After a delicious, misty performance of the "Cathedrale engloutie" by Sutton, the 1952 play orchestra gave a vigorous performance of the Quilter "Three English Dances", a little tribute to the memory of a charming English composer, who died earlier this term. This turned out to be by far the most popular item on the programme.

R. B. Atkinson's•Scherzo in C sharp minor was a tour de force and a not unworthy conclusion to his career as a pianist at St. Peter's. 26

It is one of Chopin's most satisfying and mature compositions and proved a little taxing on the powers of concentration of some members of the audience. He is to be congratulated on his achievement which gives promise of still greater things to come. The Glee Club wound up the concert with four more part songs.

Taken as a whole the concert showed just how enjoyable to players, singers and audience this kind of informal music-making can be. The performers are to be congratulated not only on the high standard but also on the infectious zeal of their performances.

F.W.

PROGRAMME I "Pictures at an Exhibition" (records) Presented by J. M. GRAINGER II Prelude from Suite Bargamasque

Piano : A. BLOOM FIELD III (i) "Breathe Soft ye Winds" (ii) "Sing we and Chaunt it" (iii) "All in an April evening" Moussorgsky

Debussy

Paxton Pearsall Roberton

THE GLEE CLUB

IV "Le Cathedrale engloutie" Piano : J. A. BUTTON

V Three English Dances

R. B. ATKINSON, R. ATKINSON, J. FORD, W. B. HAWKINS VI Scherzo in C sharp minor

Grillen Debussy

Quilter

Chopin Schumann

Piano : R. ATKINSON VII (i) "Sweet and Low" (ii) "Cargoes" (iii) "Simple Simon" (iv) "Let us drink and be merry" Barnby Balfour-Gardiner Macey Lang

"MAC13ETH"

The yearly round of School events would be very much poorer without our annual play. A happy occasion for both audience and players, it is also a sound educational instrument. Not only does it involve a large part of the School for most of a term in hard work and co-operative endeavour; not only does it train the players to act before the public gaze; but it exercises the sensibility and imagination by close contact with a work of art. Those of us who value these things must be grateful that this year, in the absence of our producer, Mr. Burgess, the School did not seek in vain for a successor. It was not an enviable task to succeed so gifted and experienced a producer, and we are happy to congratulate Canon Patteson on the high standard he achieved. "Macbeth" is not an easy play to adapt to the conditions of a school production. The producer, when casting, must find difficulty in filling the "middle" roles, Duncan, Banque, tMacduff, Malcolm, 27

characters who do not have the best lines and who must be all the more capable of acting; who must be "lesser than Macbeth" and yet worthy opponents. He must find difficulty in adapting Shakespeare's fast-moving, far-roving action to a tiny stage and inflexible set. Nor has he an unfettered choice of costume and make-up, but must make shift with what he is given. Yet this year's production, in spite of the flaws which these difficulties entailed, bore the marks of thorough rehearsal and careful direction; always, with the exception of the 'Macduff-Malcolm encounter in England, held the attention; and in the crucial scenes achieved real dramatic power. What, perhaps, one missed most was the forward rush of the tragic action. "Macbeth" is a swiftly-moving play. Yet the delivery at times lacked speed and vigour; the action was suspended for too long between one scene and the next; and the drastic cutting obscured the curve of Macbeth's fortunes, especially in the middle sections of the play.

The most obvious cause of the slow development of the action was the division of the play into self-contained scenes with curtainfalls between them. This seemed a regrettable concession to modern realism. A better arrangement would have been to have had two main intervals—it would seem natural to place the first after the discovery of Duncan's murder (end of Act 2)—and to have played the intervening scenes with the minimum of interruption. This need not have proved difficult. The main set with its pillars and central arch required little, if any, modification to represent adequately the palace at Forres, 'Macbeth's castle or Dunsinane; a darkened stage represented the Heath; it was sufficient to drop a curtain for the battle scenes. Such changes could have been rapidly effected in a brief interval of darkness. The method was used to good effect last year.

Of the players Staines and Moore were outstanding. Staines was the obvious choice for Macbeth. With a confident bearing and an excellent control of voice and gesture he does not merely act before his audience but plays to it. We shall not forget the look of fury on his face when in the first performance the prompter mistook a dramatic pause for a lapse of memory. If his vigorous style showed to better advantage when the hero stood at bay than when he was hesitating on the brink of crime, his was nevertheless a notable performance. Moore's playing of Lady Macbeth showed that he had greater resources of feeling and imagination to draw upon than most of his fellows. His sleepwalking scene was perhaps the finest achievement of the play. Combining movement, gesture and voice with a remarkable sureness, he held his audience spellbound. It was a triumph of sensitive acting.

The chief supporting players could hardly be expected to match this high standard. They made brave attempts at those difficult secondary parts which only good acting could bring to life; but it was here that the faults of inexperience were most in evidence. They spoke their lines clearly, but often without vigour and expression. 28

They did not lack confidence; yet their movements were often clumsy and their gestures wooden or half-hearted. Hick, perhaps, deserved a more congenial role; he did not look the .part, and was not helped by his costume and make-up. Bardgett might have made an excellent Duncan if he had been able to control his hands and make a more regal exit. Clemons, as Ross, had a pleasant voice, but was rather too much the "ever-gentle cousin". Willstrop needed to enliven and vary his delivery, Ibberson to cultivate greater ease of gesture and movement.

The playing of the minor roles was much more satisfactory. The Witches were excellent and Middlebrook conspicuous for the zest with which he entered into his part. Thomas "hell-portered it" without overplaying his role. Baines was a happy choice for the Physician and struck just the right note.

The play involves too many actors and helpers for it to be possible to do justice to all by name. The prompter peering at his script (can he ever have concentrated so hard for so long?), the musicians adding their professional touch to the evening's entertainment, Mr. Rhodes busy as usual in a hundred ways seeing that everything is just as it should be, are but a few of the many. We are sure that they all find their reward in the enjoyment of contributing to the common effort rather than in any passing mention here. Yet we must thank them corporately for entertaining us so well. There is a unique pleasure in the live theatre which we would not readily forgo, and it is good to know that the St. Peter's Players flourish as healthily as ever.

The cast was as follows :- Duncan P. L. BARDGETT Malcolm

M. WILLSTROP

Donalbain Macbeth Banquo Macduff Lennox Ross ...

Angus ... Fleance Siward Young Siward Seyton Doctor ... A Porter A Sergeant ... Lady Macbeth Gentlewoman ...

D. J. OLDMAN A. G. D. STAINES R. M. HICK

W. R. IBBERSON M. J. BADDELEY G. R. H. CLEMONS E. W. PEAT C. B. M. GREGORY

R. N. WORSLEY P. B. CLAYTON M. T. POWELL J. H. BAINES T. E. THomAs

M. T. POWELL E. I. MOORE E. W. TREVELYAN P. W. MIDDLEBROOK

Three Witches J. A. SUTTON

M. I. L. RICE

Two Murderers

P. J. NETHERWOOD P. K. LAPIDGE Messenger ... ... C. R. G. McNEn. Lords, Gentlemen, Soldiers, Apparitions : J. C. ARMSTRONG, D. I. DONALDSON, S. M. BADHAM, K. BROWN, K. GosLING, E. A.

JACKSON, F. A. L. KIRBY, T. PIERCY, R. G. LE PLA, P. S.