(From Birmingham)
PATTISON'S SALON ORCHESTRA
Directed by NORRIS STANLEY
Relayed from the Café Restaurant, Corporation
Street
ROSSINI, happily remembered as the most modest and good-humoured musician who ever lived, holds his place on the operatic stage to-day solely by The Barber of Seville, in spite of its age one of the best comic operas which the world possesses. His serious work, William Tell , is no less worthy of affectionate regard, but except for the Overture it has apparently disappeared from the present-day theatre. The Overture is, however, evergreen, and bids fair to remain so. It begins, as listeners will remember, with a fine, tuneful section for the violoncellos in four parts, popular with violoncello players and with list?ners alike. The section which follows describes a great storm among the hills ; calm succeeds, and a quiet pastoral scene, and there is a stirring march, these combining to make the Overture picturesque and graphic in a way that the Overtures for the older Italian operas did not by any means always achieve.