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SCUNA history:
1971 IV:
Individual Items Concert1

SCUNA history » IVs and Minifests hosted by SCUNA to 1988 » 1971 IV » Individual Items Concert

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Programme

Page 1 - Transcription follows

1971 Individual Items Concert programme page 1

The Aquarius Festival of University Arts2
in conjunction with The 22nd Intervarsity Choral Festival
presents

A CHORAL CONCERT

by
Australian Universities' Choral Societies

ALBERT HALL, CANBERRA
Saturday, 22nd May, 1971

Page 2

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1971 Individual Items Concert programme page 2

PROGRAMME

1. Melbourne University Choral Society
    Magnificat (Choruses) C.P.E Bach
      Conductor: David Carolane
2. Queensland University Musical Society
    In Windsor Forest (nos 3, 4, 5) R. Vaughan Williams
      Conductor: David Macfarlane
3. Adelaide University Choral Society
    Hymn to King Stephen Zoltan Kodaly
      Conductor: David Boehm
4. University of Tasmania Choral Society
    Missa Luba Congolese Folk Mass
 
5. A.N.U. Choral Society
    Missa in Honorem Sancti Dominici Edmund Rubbra
      Conductor: Ayis Ioannides

INTERVAL

Page 3

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1971 Individual Items Concert programme page 3
6. Monash University Choral Society
    Mass for four voices Monteverdi
      Conductor: John McCaughey
7. University of New South Wales Choral Society
    Agincourt Song Anon (13th cent.)
    Westron Wind Anon (15th cent.)
    Innsbruck Heinrich Isaac
      Conductor: Bevan Leviston
8. Flinders University Choral Society
    Domine Deus Michael Haydn
    2 Kanon W.A. Mozart
    Exultate Deo Scarlatti
      Conductor: David Carolane
9. Newcastle University Musical Society
    Flower Songs (nos 2,3,4) Benjamin Britten
      Conductor: Alan Fenwick
10. Sydney University Musical Society
    Komm, Jesu, Komm J.S. Bach
      Conductor: Peter Seymour

Page 4

Transcription follows

1971 Individual Items Concert programme page 4

Better Printing Service, 209 Gilmore Road, Queanbeyan. Phone 972376

Review: W.L. Hoffmann, "Varied, rewarding choirs"
Canberra Times, 24 May 1971, p.3

"A wide variety of choral music presented at the concert ... was matched by an equally wide variety of the quality of the performances. There was some singing of a very high standard; but some of performances were terribly mediocre. Nevertheless, it was an interesting evening ... The University of Tasmania Choral Society provided visual variety by performing the Congalese Mass 'Missa Luba' ... It was a performance of more than passing interest with the music's strong rhythmic emphasis well conveyed by the singers. [FUCS was] notable for the fine contribution of the sopranos ... However the finest choral work of the evening came from [SCUNA and SUMS], both of whom provided completely competent, thoroughly musical and consistently well-sung performances. The former, under Ayis Ioannides, gave a beautifully controlled and eminently satisfying presentation ... This [was] a concert which, despite its variability, was always interesting and often rewarding."

Peter Campbell, Laudate: the first 50 years of the Australian Intervarsity Choral Movement,
PC Publishing, Canberra, Australia 1999, p99. Also cited on Aicsapedia.

Notes

1Individual Items concerts provided an opportunity for all the participating choirs to show each other what they'd been doing. Such concerts were eventually abandoned because it was felt that they were "bitty", but I found them most interesting and it seems from the review above that I wasn't alone.

 The concerts were "bitty" but they were also inspiring, whether as a spur to better performance or a reminder never to emulate whichever choir it was you were underwhelmed by. They exposed you to a wider repertoire than membership of one choir and attendance at one IV per year possibly could. Smaller groups who didn't feel like performing on their own had the opportunity to join with, and get to know, other choirs. And the concerts were highly entertaining.

 At this stage of my life, I think I can fairly say I'm never going to forget some of the performances of modern works I saw in Individual Items concerts. I can still sing the theme of The sun, the soaring eagle, the turquoise prince, the dove [Bergsma] from the 1969 II concert, and bits of Americana [Thompson], and I can still see a MONUC chomping on a carrot and Jim Cotterill banging his harp on the floor to make up the sounds of the MONUCS item at the 1970 II concert.

 Or perhaps it was Trois poèmes à crier et à danser by Humble at the 1969 II concert. I've just dragged out my old IV records to see what they'd reveal. Not much, unfortunately. The Hobart IV record from 1968 contains no individual items; the Adelaide record from 1969 is comprehensive; there was no IV record from Melbourne in 1970; I can only find the individual items from Canberra 1971!

2I was involved in negotiations for the support of the Aquarius Festival but my memories are gone - unless it was something to do with the Cultural Affairs Committee and a chap called Jon Stephens. I note from Laudate [op.cit. p98] and Aicsapedia that the Melbourne IV in 1970 received the support of the "National Union of Australian University Students Aquarius Foundation, which was in turn in receipt of assistance from the Australia Council for the Arts". Apparently the support promised to the 1971 Canberra IV did not eventuate - see the section on financial support on the 1971 IV page.

 Here's some information about the 1971 Aquarius Festival in Canberra:

The festival, attended by thousands of students and other young people from around the country, was held on the campus of the Australian National University, just outside Canberra's city centre. ... According to the entry in Wikipedia, the event was sponsored by a major tobacco company.

Article on the Milesago website ©Duncan Kimball.

 Mr Kimball goes on to quote an article (now unfortunately vanished from the web, as is the Wikipedia information he mentions) by Chris Davies talking about police harassment during the festival - which reminded me that choristers came in for some of that, too. One of the incidents I heard about: Andrew K__ was arrested (?) as he crossed the road from a coffee shop in Manuka because he was wearing a caftan. It was a very nice, tailored, light brown tweed caftan, too.

 The Good Old Days. :-/