Cylchgronau Cymru

*■ ^^H[YSTIiI D8JHJE5Y HJjepqjB * No. 115. Vol. X. JULY, 1902. Price One Penny. CHORAL FESTIVAL. I had heard so much of Llanidloes, its Church and its Choir that it was with no inconsiderable amount of pleasuresble anticipation that I accepted an invita¬ tion to attend the Rnridecaual Choral Festival on Jane 11th, although I did not so much enjoy the idea jk of writing a critique for the Magazine, as I was told I must. My first impression on entering the building was one of awe and reverence and admiration, the stately pillars, angel decked roof and storied windows, all combining to make one feel ' This is hoiir other but the House of God ' : my second feeling I confess was one of disappointment at the congregation : I estimated the building to hold about four hundred, and I understood that the choirs numbered a hundred and fifty, which left only 250 Church-people in attend¬ ance from the whole Deanery. I suppose it is quite certain that every Llanidloes Churchman was present, so they must be a very small proportion of the popu¬ lation. However, my business is with the service and music, and I will say at once that taking it all through it was a highly successful Festival. A bad start was made, the first line of the processional " Stand up, Stand up for Jesus " being taken in two quite different times by the surpliced and unsurpliced choirs : this, however, was quickly rectified, and the hymn went smoothly after the second line I would suggest that some signal should be devised by which the procession should know how to start, or else that they should enter through the West Door in sight of the conductor's baton. There was a less excusable break-down at the commencement of the Lord's Prayer, some of the choristers beginning with the minister, and others wait¬ ing till he had pronounced the words ' Our Father.' At this period I began to feel uncomfortable, but from that point things grew better, the conductor and his choirs pulling themselves together. The Magnificat was taken to a somewhat complicated but sufficiently striking arrangement by W L Richards, the render¬ ing of Avhich was marred only by the neglect cf the direction " unaccompanied " in regard to the eighth verse. The same remark applies also to the interpre¬ tation later on of "Lead, kindly Light" where the s-ecoud verse, though marked ' voices only ' had the organ accompaniment. If a choir cannot be trusted to sing unaccompanied when so directed, it would be better to defer holding a Festival. Perhaps this is the proper place to remark that the organist's tendency was to play too loud, and that if he had played throughout as he did in the " unaccompanied" passages, the effect would have been better: the object of the instrument is to guide and support, not to drown, the roices. Except for this fault, which is a very common one, he did his work excellently. The rendering of the Nunc Dimittis wer? almost faultless, and the Psalms well interpreted, the conductor shin¬ ing here and showing a firm grasp of the beat at the end of the recitative note. Next to the Nunc Dimitts the rendering of the Anthem (8ir George Elvey's " O give thanks unto the Lord ") was the finest thing in the whole service. It Avould have been better still if the Tenors had been grouped together : as it was, they sounded weaker than the Alti, though they were really stronger, but their strength was dissipated : I could not perceive that the sforzando on the words ' praise him ' was noticed either by conductor or choir, and the words 1 Let your talking be of all ' marked poco a po -o dim were taken rallentando : it cannot too often be said that a soft passage is not always or necessarily a slow passage. Here as in some other cases the condnctor seemed to let himself be conducted instead of con¬ ducting others. However, because I have picked out some faults, I do not wish it to be thought that my verdict is unfavorable : on the contrary, I was greatly pleased with all I heard and saw, and I will conclude by wishing all possible success to the Annual Choral Festival: may it become a Hardy annual, and ncv.-r hereafter remain underground a year as it did \u 1901. E. M. M. LLANIDLOES. An account of the Choral Festival from a point of view of the musical critic will be found elsewhere. We need only add here that a very small percentage of Church-people attended, and that about 140 sat down to the tea at the Schoolroom, which was catered for by Mr George Roberts.