SURREY ADVERTISER AND COUNTY TIMES SAT
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HOUSE FULL FOR
VERNON HANDLEY
'CONCERT
heard the Eroica Symphony, and
JFOR the first time since for
me there were a number of
“Messiah” was performed Beethoven felicities that I had
forgotten. How refreshing
two years ago, the “house-full” quite
it is to hear a great work like
signs were up at the Civic this after a long interval! I had
also forgotten the huge scale of
| Hall at acorporation concert ‘the
work, especially the first two{
on Sunday. The average movements. Yet it made such
attendance so far this season an impression on Frederick the
Great’s
nephew,
Prince
Louis
is 86 per cent, a figure which Ferdinand, when he first heard
beats that of any other com- it, that he had the whole work |
played twice more as an encore;
parable musical organisation there was no musicians’ union in
Britain.
anywhere in Great
%pose days to argue about overime.
And the reason for this encouraging figure? There is no
Beethoven is not Vernon Handley’s strongest composer, but he
‘doubt that the biggest contributory factor is the personality of
Vernon Handley, who not only
brings the highest standard of
musicianship and conducting to
gave a quite acceptable account
of the music. The funeral march,
nain particular, with its
basstive acciaccaturas in the
was
drum-rolls,
emulating
line,
all that he does, but who also
has the Kknack of giving self- most effectively played.—C.C..
confidence to those who work
with him, thus bringing out the|
‘best in them.
-
Having said this, let me add
| that there were several defects,
albeit slight ones, in the con-
cert. Nothing is so hard to play
well as a straight classical programme, and popular works by
Brahms, Mozart and Beethoven
invite
comparison
lished orchestras.
estab-
with
But these defects were mostly
such as- could have been put
right with a little more rehearsaltime: details of phrasing, an odd
note out of tune, ensemble, etc.
The time may soon be approaching when the corporation will
have to ask itself whether the
present number of rehearsals are
sufficient
to
in-
the
maintain
creasingly high standard of performance demonstrated, for in-
stance, on the record of Bax’s
4th Symphony, just released.
WELL SHAPED
The
Variations
‘Anthony
Chorale
on
were
the
given
St.
a
well-shaped performance, though
it took a few variations for the
orchestra to settle down. Inci-
dentally, is Haydn no longer
credited with having composed
the fertile theme with its unusual five-bar phrases? No mention of his name was on the programme.
The most successful piece in
the concert was the clarinet concerto of Mozart, This was a beautifully poised performance on
the part of the orchestra’s principal clarinettist, John Denman.
I have never heard the adagio
played so quietly and so slowly,
yet with such control and grace.
John
Denman,
aged
potential world-beater.
31,
is
a
It was many years since I had
-