Mr. Murray Davies made his debut {b a concert giver in London last week at the Wigmore Hall, with "An Hour of English Song." It was a programme containing no fewer than 30 songs, all sung by hear with ease and mastery, In recent months Mr. Davies has been studying very hard, and the results were clearly shown, particularly in such a song as "The Bold Unbiddable Child," which is almost a patter song, taken at tremendous speed. This song was particularly to the audiences taste.
Others which showed of Mr. Davies's powers well and were much appreciated were Tarry's "On a Time the Amorous Silvy." "Thy Glorious Deeds" from "Samson" (well, Handel was very nearly an Englishmen) and a superb setting of the verses from Job beginning "It Thou Prepare Thy Heart" by Clifton Parker.
The last section of the programme was the whole book of "Just So" songs. Some of these rather suggest that they were written to order, to make up the set, But what a musician German was when his imagination was really stirred. Mr. Davies sang these splendidly, his articulation and control of breathing being again noticeable in the difficult "China going P & O's" also a patter song.
There was a large and very appredative audience, which included a number of Shanghai friends, Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Mackay, Lady Pearce, Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Duncan, Mrs. Barraclough and Mys. and Miss Teesdale.
China port or Shanghai, at their option, and in the case of oil, Dairen firms are shipping their soya beans to Tientsin to be crushed there for shipment from that port, thus getting the benefit of current exchange rates there.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.