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Contemporary Music
Concert Pleasing

The Society for Contemporary Music recently presented a concert with music of high quality and music of some inconsequence, with performances of authority and performances which did not altogether convince.

In Messiaen's Canteyodjaya both performer and composer emerged triumphant. The intelligence of Derek Saunders's rendition was indisputable—we forgot our uneasiness at a certain deliberation of manner, an occasional doggedness in surmounting technical difficulties. Mr. Saunders created coherent and forceful music, when we could have been bewildered by complexity and overpowered by rhetoric.

Stravinsky's Elegy for J.F.K. is a less satisfying piece of work. Auden's poem sounds too much like an obituary from a provincial newspaper; the arrangement pays disconcertingly little attention to the phrasing and the meaning of the words. Stravinsky's touch is unmistakable but seems to have been harnessed to a disappointingly slight piece. The performance was adequate (and better the second time through); but Gerald Christeller's voice, if anything, reinforced our impression that the emotion of the subject-matter had been rather too thoroughly understated.

A fine first performance was accorded the Serenade (1965) of Robert Burch, a New Zealand composer who plays second horn for the NZBCSO. We were again impressed by the playing of Richard Giese (flute) and Guy Henderson (oboe). But the Serenade, though at times pleasing, was not always concise. Whatever our reservations about the Elegy for J.F.K., Mr. Burch undoubtedly suffered in having to follow the terseness and tightness of Stravinsky.

The virtuosity of Edward Garza was displayed to good effect in his performances of Daniel Jones's Sonata for Three Timpani, and Milhaud's Concerto for Percussion. It was only unfortunate, in the latter work, that the exploitation of the resources of the percussion should appear so arbitrary—as it was bound to appear when not accounted for by changing relationships of tone-colour between the percussion and different instruments. Murray Brown's piano playing was more than adequate, but could hardly simulate an orchestra.

Jean Williams and Frederick Page were equal to the odd demands made by the songs of John Cage. She Is Asleep had a strange beauty; it was enhanced by the composer's blending of soprano and prepared piano, and the performers' perfect understanding. Experiences No. II (for voice unaccompanied) depends upon an attempt at tension—in the song between the peculiarities of the voice and the prettiness of the tune, and in e. e. cummings's poem between prosaic expression and sentimental emotion. It is the fault of the composer that the attempt is not successful, and that the song emerges awkward and rather saccharine. In A Flower, however, with the voice once more inarticulate, the fault was more with the performance: we wished that Jean Williams had been a little more convinced in her tremelo, and that the closed piano had been a little less closed, a little more resonant when tapped.

The audience that absolutely packed the Music Room was enthusiastic about this concert: I think, justifiably so. The performances were often (if not uniformly) excellent: the programme was interesting and well-arranged, if no more than moderately exciting.

P.G.R.