Person

SCHMIDT-ISSERSTEDT, Hans

Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (5 May 1900 – 28 May 1973) was a German conductor and composer. After studying at several music academies, he worked in German opera houses between 1923 and 1945, first as a répétiteur and then in increasingly senior conducting posts, ending as Generalmusikdirektor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

After the Second World War, Schmidt-Isserstedt was invited by the occupying British forces to form the Northwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he was musical director and chief conductor from 1945 to 1971. He was a frequent guest conductor for leading symphony orchestras around the world, and returned to opera from time to time, including appearances at Glyndebourne and Covent Garden as well as the Hamburg State Opera.

Schmidt-Isserstedt was known for his transparent orchestral textures, strict rhythmic precision, and rejection of superfluous gestures and mannerisms on the rostrum. His extensive recorded legacy features the Austro-German classics with which he was widely associated, but also includes works by Czech, English, French, Italian and Russian composers.

Instruments

Years

Chilla Porter – Olympic Silver Medallist, Highjump

married Nerida Chayter.

Charles ‘Chilla’ Porter (athletics) was a high jumper who won silver medals at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff and again in Perth in 1962. Most famous for his epic duel with American Charles Dumas in fading light at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne where Porter also won the silver medal. Chilla also competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics however he didn’t qualify for the final. Winner of seven straight Australian titles in the high jump from 1955 to 1961, Porter was inducted into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame in 2011. He continued his long involvement in athletics on the board of Athletics WA and became chair of the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS).

Debussy Rhapsody for Clarinet and Saxophone – same performance

The Third Youth Subscription concert of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra on August 9 1956 at the Capitol Theatre will be conducted by John Farnsworth Hall with Jack Harrison, soloist, playing a Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra by in the first half of the concert, and a Rhapsody for Saxophone and orchestra by the same composer in the second half. 

Youth and Music issued by the A.B.C. Concerts’ Committee No. 3 August 1956

MUSIC AND THEATRE BY “FIDELIO”

DEBUSSY RHAPSODIES

For the A.B.C.’s next Youth Concert on Thursday August 9, Mr John Farnsworth Hall will be in charge, and Jack Harrison will set up what is maybe a record for these concerts (or indeed any in the annals of the W.A. Symphony Orchestra) by appearing as soloist not merely on two occasions in the programme but playing each time a different instrument.  With the clarinet he will be heard in a Rhapsody by Debussy, and with the saxophone in – again – a Rhapsody by Debussy. 

There is no “funny business” about this: Debussy really did write a rhapsody for the clarinet and also a rhapsody for the saxophone.  The latter was commissioned by an American lady, left unfinished by Debussy and completed by Roger-Ducasse.

WN is broadcasting the ABC Youth Concert from the Capitol Theatre on Thursday and Friday evenings. 

Jack Harrison, a brilliant young Perth musician in both classical and modern spheres, will be the soloist with the W.A. Symphony Orchestra.  J. Farnsworth Hall is the conductor.  The opening half of the concert is broadcast on Thursday starting at 8pm.  Jack Harrison joins the orchestra in Debussy’s Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra.  On Friday at 9.15pm, when the second half of the concert is broadcast, Harrison is featured on saxophone.

SAXOPHONE SHINES IN A HOTCH-POTCH

By “Fidelio”

“The saxophone is classified as a woodwind instrument” the Professor of Music at Harvard University tells us in a treatise published this year “despite the fact that it is entire made of brass.”  There, of course, is one proof more that musicians are an irrational folk. (For an alternative explanation read the next few sentences of Professor Piston’s book.). Professor Piston also tells us that while in serious music the saxophone gives voice with “a pure, steady tone,” in popular dance music nowadays it is “Tremulous, oversweet, sentimental and it is almost invariably played out of tune.”

We are certain that Mr Jack Harrison did not play it “almost invariably played out of tune” last night; but then, Mr Harrison was not in a dance hall but at the Capitol and devoting his skill not to jive but to Debussy’s Rhapsody for Saxophone and Orchestra.  He also played for us, and very effectively, another Debussy “Rhapsody” for clarinet, which gave him greater opportunities than the saxophone piece.  Neither is particularly good Debussy.

For this A.B.C. Youth Concert Mr Farnsworth Hall compiled a programme which achieved great variety at the cost of being rather a hotch-potch.  Among the purely orchestral works three commanded special attention – “An Outback Overture” by the Australian composer John Anthill; the wonderful pages from Berlioz’s “The Trojans” unusually labelled “Royal Hunt and Storm”; and Schumann’s rarely heard overture to “Manfred”, a welcome tribute in this centenary year, for all its sombreness.  We had some beautiful playing in the Berlioz, though the horns were not quite up to the mark.

The West Australian August 1956