Conductor, E. GODFREY BROWN
A. V. FROGGATT (baritone)
Balfour Gardiner has always been intensively active in the interests of his British contemporaries, and has given notable concerts with that end in view. He has not, himself, written a great deal, but several of his works, among them ' Shepherd Fennel's Dance ', became instantly popular, and have rightly remained so. Shepherd Fennel is a character in Thomas Hardy 's ' Wessex Tales', and the music is based upon an episode therein.
(Belfast Programme)
Brahms's Hungarian Dances must be well known to countless listeners who have very little interest in the rest of his work. He was not a Hungarian himself, but the verve and rhythm of Hungarian dances and folk songs interested him keenly all his musical life. And he made use of them in many ways in his own works. It is supposed that his interest in them was first aroused when, as a young man, he went on tour with the Hungarian violinist, Remenyi, and that may well be true. Remenyi was himself an enthusiast in the folk music of his own country, an,; played many of the native airs, so that Brahms heard them in all their native vigour and charm.