Entries for Arts Festival

This year, V.U.W. Music Society's programme for Arts Festival is composed of several neatly-placed is to the generally slow-moving and traditionalist outlook of Canterbury's Music Department.

Nothing daunted, the V.U.W. Music Society Is this year responding to a new surge of Interest in university choral music by sending down a small group of nine singers to perform the magnificent the part Mass of William Byrd. Those interested in Victoria's lead in university music circles will be, able to hear a special trial run performance at tin second Organ Recital on August 8.

Because the enterprising instigator of this new vocal outlook. Warren Bourne, will be unable to be present at the Christchurch concert, the Mass will be conducted by another talented choral musician, Robert Oliver.

Continuing what now seems to be developing into a regular feature Of Arts Festival concerts. Robin Maconie will again be playing piano works by major 20th century composers. The 3 Klavierstucke, Op. 11, of Schonberg, although preceding his first great 12-tone work, the Piano Suite, Op. 25yet constitute a landmark in music by their standing as the first completely atonal compositions in modern Western music.

Mr. Maconie will again be playing only the first movement, in itself a considerable achievement.

Nelson Wattie, the leading singer at Music Society functions, and president of Contemporary Arts Society, will be singing three "Scots Ballads" (1960) of David Farquhar, lecturer in music at this university. This is Mr. Wattie's answer to his performance last year of two fine songs by the senior lecturer. Mr. Douglas Lilburn. And the accompanist this year will again be Murray Brown.

The latter, together with Jenny McLeod, will be appearing also in the type of music that is rarely heard In universities, let alone in concert-halls. Piano duets perhaps bring to mind childhood memories of Dance Calops and Valses Characteristiques thumped out under the tearful guidance of old maidish music-teachers.

Chamber music as such is represented on the programme by a relatively unknown species of Beethoven's opus, compared with the fame of his quartets. Jenny Mel (piano), Sue Smith ('cello) and Murray Gronwall (violin) will play the "Ghosts" Trio, Op. 79, No. 2. This student (and lecturer) trio is another "institution" in the Music Society, and already this year has presented excellently stylistic performances of Haydn and Mozart works for strings and piano.

Two plays, "The Bonds of Love" by Bruce Mason, and "In This Hung-up Age," by Corse will go to the Arts Festival this year. The first is being sent by the Dramatic Society, the latter by the Contemporary Arts Group.

"In This Hung-up Age" is being produced by Con O'Leary. The farce in the royal manner was written by Gregory Corse in 1954. It takes place on a bus that has broken down in the middle of nowhere on the American prairies.

Ralph McAllister who is producing "The Bonds of Love," says that Mason wrote this play to portray "the sex life of the average New Zealander."