New Britain herald., 1930-05-01
NEWS CHORAL CLUB
 THRILLS AUDIENCE
Soloist and Ensemble Ably Aid
 in Concert

Assisted by Floyd Tovnsley, tenor, and the New York Festival String Ensemble. the Mems Choral club of New Britain presented the second concert of it's first season last night.
 To comment on the program with out using suporlatives would be highly difficult. The concret stands as one of the highlights of this sea- sons musical affairs and the large audience which attended was most enthusiastic in it's hearty applause of every number on the program.
 Far more significant than the ap- plause, however, was the quietness of the audience, hushed so that none of the beauty of the music should be lost. The acoustics of the high school auditorium are most favorable for musical entertainments and it has been a long time since a chorus, principally of laymen, has demon- strated such unity in attack, preci- sion and tone, careful regard for tempo and so high a quality of resonance as was achieved last night under the baton of Roy Williams Steele of New York.
 That his chorus eas perfectly sym- pathetic and in harmony with the mood Of the director vas obvious to even the most casual listener. The finished production. despite the in- trlcacles Of some of the numbers, was g, great tribute not only to the ability of the conductor but to the talent of each member of the choral club. Weeks of arduous rehearsal were evidenced by the accurate and skillful interpretation given each number This was especially mo- ticeable in the a capello rendition of Wolfe's Ashes of Roses"
 Celtic Numbers Charm
 One of the unusual features Of the program, which was selected with degree of taste and musicianship seldom displayed, was the inclusion of several lighter works, two of them folk songs of the Gael. which were immensely successful with the audi ence. They were Charlie Is My Darling" a lifting Scotch song of the Restoration period, in a setting by Cecil Forsyth. Mir. ToHnsley sang the incidental solo, recapturing in charming manner the spirit Of the days of the Stuart kings. The fam ''T harmonized by Brewer. was another of these selections. the plaintive and poignant Celtic melody captivating performers as we'll as audience. Of quite different nature were The Old Man Who Said. We'll" by Lang. the Tale of a Bee" by Huerter. and Shadow March," by Protheroe three comic songs replete with the fancies of childhood.
 The club sang two numbers &C., companied by the ensemble. Both were pretentious and both were equally well done The coordination between voice and instrument would have indicated that these two organizations, the choral club and the ensemble, had been working to- gether for years instead of merely one rehearsal which of necessity had to be brief. In the first of these, God Of Music.' by MacFarlane. the club did work that would have been credltable 10 a chorus of profession- als. The second, Love Me or Not" by Moore, gave the singers ample op- portunity to display contrasts of ex- pression that made the work one of the outstanding pieces of the entire night.
 One of the most virile songs was Lily Striclland's "Ganza- Drums" an impassioned exotic chanson inter- preted with vigor and contagious O. thusiasm by the club. This followed the Chorus of Homage" by Will helm Gericke and offered an inter- esting study in contrasts as well as proving that the singers were yer satile in their ability. The final num- Der sung by the club was Arthur Foote's "Bedouin Song" an Oriental phantasy that vas lacking in all those characteristics that so often | make this type of song mediocre. | Based on a firm musical foundation | and with marked deference to good | taste this desert song made a fitting | finale for program of excellent i music. Most effective was the open l ing of the program with the singing 1 of the Motto" composed for and | dedicated to the club by Louis +. | Dressler
 Ensemble Again Scores
 Regarding the chamber music | provided by the visiting ensemble it | may be said that the four artists | were able exponcnts of this most all | turing type Of composition Their | choice of a program alone served as a fitting indication of their musical !! taste. The first portion of the en- semble's program consisted of | Largo" from the D Major quartet | by Haydn. This was followed by Monsigny's "Rigaudon" and Hen- | selt's Ave Marie" As an encore to this group Raff's "Scherzino" was used.
 The ensembles second group opened with "Reyerie," Dunkler- Jospe; and Soldiers Song" by Monuisk O. Jospe. The third number in this group was Jospe's transcript ton Of the famous romance from