John McCormack tenor
International Celebrity Subscription Concert
John McCormack tenor
Ania Dorfmann piano
Edwin Schneider accompanist
Handel Caro Amor Il pastor fido.
Where E'er You Walk Semele.
Mozart O What Bitter Grief.
Harty By the Bivouac's Fitful Flame.
Parry Armida's Garden.
Rachmaninoff When Night Descends.
Foote Memnon.
Bantock Song of the Seals.
Russell When the Children Say Their Prayers.
Charles When I Have Sung My Songs.
Irish songs Oft in the Stilly Night.
The Dawning of the Day.
Farewell, My Gentle Harp.
Londonderry Air.
Moore The Meeting of the Waters.
Scottish Mary Shaw.
Dundee Courier & Advertiser: Monday, December 9 1935
John M’Cormack and City Crowds - Favours “Movies” on Sunday Nights
“Why don’t you open your ‘movies’ on a Sunday night?”
'Count John M’Cormack, the famous tenor, addressed this question to a Courier and Advertiser representative when he arrived in the city last night from Edinburgh.
“Look at the crowds of people going about the streets,” he continued vigorously. “Or else there should be something in the Caird Hall.”
'The Courier and Advertiser reminded him that there was a Corporation organ recital in progress at that very moment.
“That’s all right for experts in music,” said Count McCormack, “but for the ordinary man in the street, no.”
'But Count M’Cormack had a pat on the back for Dundee in other respects. Since his last visit the City Square has been opened up, and the improvement effected charms him. Then he loves to sing in the Caird Hall, although, in his opinion, the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, is the best hall in the world. Having sung his way round the world two or three times, he must be an authority on halls.
'Count M’Cormack is singing at the celebrity concert in the Caird Hall to-night. As usual, he will cater liberally for the popular taste. In recognition of the 250th Handel anniversary he is to give two Handelian numbers, one of these being “Where’er You Walk.” One of his encores will be an old Scottish song entitled “Mary Shaw,” which he sang this year for the first time.
“My father was born in Galashiels,” said Count McCormack, “and he knows more Scottish songs than I do, but he didn’t know ‘Mary Shaw’.”
'At this concert Miss Ania Dorfmann, the celebrated pianist, will also appear.'
Dundee Courier & Advertise: Tuesday, December 10 1935 (p2)
M’Cormack Excels in Irish Melodies - Caird Hall Recital
'Despite the wonderful catholicity of his art, it is his singing of Irish songs that will remain the most fragrant memory of John M’Cormack’s appearance at the International Celebrity Concert in the Caird Hall, Dundee, last night.
'In these he is the supreme artiste, going straight to the heart, in that he not only sings the song but lives in it. His rendering of Moore’s “The Meeting of the Waters” will remain with last night’s audience for many a day.
'Saying this, however, is not to deny that in other respects M’Cormack is a great singer, who has something to offer any class of audience. Nor is he afraid to use his talents to do a little missionary work on behalf of contemporary British composers. Indeed the proportion of songs of the modern British school submitted last night not only spoke well for his efforts to bring the claims of the school to the front, but also gave an indication of the assiduity with which he must seek for new material with which to entertain his admirers, although knowing full well they would be quite content to hear nothing from him but the wistful haunting refrains of his native Ireland.
'For an opening group McCormack went to Handel and Mozart, with the former's ''Caro Amor,'' from Il Pastor Fido, and the ever popular ''Where e'er You Walk,'' and Mozart's touching plaint ''O What Bitter Grief.''
'In his second group he drew from Harty, Parry, and Rachmaninoff. Harty was represented by a highly descriptive but not very grateful to sing setting of Walt Whitman's ''By the Bivouac's Fitful Flame,'' in which there was here and there a faint suggestion of the composer's Irish strain.
'A beautiful rendering of Parry's lovely ''Armida's Garden'' was one of the highlights of the recital. "When Night Descends,'' by Rachmaninoff, is also a very effective piece of vocal writing, giving the singer an opportunity he did not fail to take of showing the latent dramatic power he has at his command.
'He subsequently sang Arthur Foote's ''Memnon,'' Bantock's setting of the Hebridean ''Song of the Seals,'' an exquisite little children's hymn, ''When the Children Say Their Pryers,'' by Kennedy Russell, and Ernest Charles' ''When I Have Sung My Songs.''
'His Irish group included a set of words tenderly characteristic of his nation, written by McCormack himself to the refrain of the ''Londonderry Air.'' And into this group he also introduced as one of his encores a Scottish song, ''Mary Shaw,'' which, he remarked, he wondered how many of the audience knew.
'It was not known to his father, who had taught him all the Scottish songs he knew but this one, and it was not known to many of the people to whom he sang it. It is an attractive love song, on strongly traditional Scottish lines.
'''Oft in the Stilly Night,'' ''The Dawning of the Day,'' and ''Farewell, My Gentle Harp,'' were others of his numbers.
'No matter what McCormack is singing, everything he does is artistic. As already mentioned, there is no lack of dramatic force and ardour at his command. But it is by the lyrical song, the tender and dainty effusion, that he scores his biggest successes. His phrasing is so good as to be entirely forgotten about as one listens, and his diction is a joy.
'No need for a book of words when listening to McCormack. He not only gives the audience the melodic line, but he tells them the story. When you add to these a fine perception of the musical quality of the words themselves and an unerring instinct for dynamic effect, you realise how John McCormack can come back year after year to Dundee, and attract large audiences, and how his gramophone records are to be found in every house where there is an instrument to play them on.
'Last night the audience, despite the good measure promised them in the programme, were insistent for encores, and before he took farewell of them he had added five songs to the list.
'Mr McCormack shared the bill with a lady who has already also established herself with Dundee audiences - Miss Ania Dorfmann, the pianist.
'An artiste of amazing technique, fine musical instinct, and a touch like velvet in the most intricate passages when desired, she is also an explorer of considerable temerity.
'Her second group of solos included a sonata by an early eighteenth century composer, Baldassare Galuppi, who is only remembered as a Venetian composer of comic operas and by the fact that Browning mentioned a ''Toccata of Galuppi'' in one of his poems. The sonata proved of more than merely historical value. An attractive short adagio and allegro were followed by a very striking Largo maestoso and a lively gigue.
'For her opening solo Miss Dorfmann selected the Chopin E flat major Polonaise, Op22. Her Polonaise was no ''lady's Chopin'' To parody Goldsmith it was amazing that two little hands could produce the big massive tone she got out of the most rapid passages of handfuls of chords, while at the same time her arpeggios, her trills, and her runs were like cascades of dropping pearls.
'Along with the Galuppi Sonata for the second group were bracketed two brilliant characteristic specimens of the modern Spanish school - ''A Los Toros,'' by Turina, and an ingeniously worked out set of variations, ''El Vito,'' by Manuel Infante.
'As for her first group, she was again accorded an rnthusiastic double encore, to which she responded with exquisite renderings of an arrangement of Schubert's ''Rosamunde'' ballet music and Brahms' dainty waltz in A Major. Indeed the latter was a perfect gem of tasteful delicacy.
'Mr Edwin Schneider provided tasteful accompaniments of the vocal items, of several of which he had also been the arranger.'
Dundee Evening Telegraph: 10 December 1935 (p3)
John McCormack in Dundee - Great Lyric Singer
'The third of the International Celebrity series of concerts brought Mr John McCormack back to the Caird Hall last night to sing to a very considerable audience.
'In folk-song particularly Mr McCormack has made a niche for himself in popular favour. His clear, carying voice reaches every part of the hall, and his unforced readings are in the true spirit of national, especially Irish, melody. Added to this is his singularly clean and clear diction.
'Every word comes through, and it takes no strain at all to follow the words of a song. Not that he sacrifices a jot of the musical line for this purpose, but his phrasing and sense of poetry are unfailing in the associated verses.
'The music and words are kept in admirable balance, and the result is an artistic whole. The narrative poem, ''The Dawning of the Day,'' moved along with a natural simplicity, and the tenderness of ''Farewell, My Gentle Harp,'' had a poignant touch. As for the ''Londonderry Air,'' he sang it to words of his own, and one admired the smooth contour of rise and fall in this, one of the greatest of all folk-songs.
'Amongst his many encores one must be insensitive if the ''Meeting of the Waters'' did not make a strng appeal, and a Scottish song, ''Mary Shaw,'' was a rather pleasant example of our national lyrics which is comparatively unknown.
'Of his English songs, ''Where'er you walk,'' of Handel was specially good, but the first two songs in the first group, by Handel and Mozart respectively, were not specially attractive. There were times in his songs when a little more passion would not have been amiss. Still, he caught the picturesque quality of Harty's ''By the Bivouack's Fitful Flame'' and the phrasing in Rachmaninoff's ''When Night Descends'' was perfect in its justness.
'Encores were many and freely given.
'The solo pianist was Miss Ania Dorfmann.
'Pure pearly tone, allied with an easy highly developed technique, made everything she played of an interestng nature. The Variation by Manuel Infante had no terrors for her technique, nor had the tempestuous vigour of Turina's ''A Los Toros.''
'Her Chopin playing in that composer's ''Andante Spianato and Polonaise,'' caught the spirit of the poet of the piano in its many moods, and the Polonaise especially went with great smoothness.
'But the most interesting number on her programme was a Sonata by Galuppi. To most folk, Galuppi is merely a name, only familiar through one of Robert Browning's most delightful poems. The sonata proved to be a good piece of 18th century craftsmanship, with a good deal of attractive music in its context. The gigue especially was a fine piece of writing, and Miss Dorfmann here, as elsewhere, showed how a good technique can be used for the purpose of revealing the soul of good music and the composer's purpose.
'The piano accompaniments of Mr Edwin Schneider to Mr McCormack's songs were always tasteful and wholly admirable.'
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