The "Official World Premiere of Shaw's Music", as it was grandly titled, took place in the NCH on Thursday. Of the 26 items in the concert, only three were by George Bernard Shaw, but seven were by his mother Lucinda Carr Shaw, a more talented composer. These 10 Shaw items were all voc al settings and the titles, Buds of May, Fond Memories, Ah Love, I lack thy Kisses, etc, indicate the music was in the manner of Tosti, that beloved Victorian composer. The originals, for voice and piano, had been colourfully orchestrated by Colman Pearce, who also set, for voice and piano only, two nonsense rhymes by GBS.
To represent Shaw's wider musical interests, there were pieces by Mozart, Verdi, Balfe, Donizetti, Bellini, Wagner and Elgar. The Vandeleur Lee Orchestra, named after Lucinda's singing master, accompanied the singers Anthony Kearns and Niamh Murray who gave splendid renderings of the songs and arias. The Lassus Scholars/Ite O'Donovan sang stalwartly in six of the items. Inevitably, there was a selection from Loewe's My Fair Lady and Oscar Straus's The Chocolate Soldier.
It was, all in all, a cosy evening, without any sign of the GBS who mocked the English with wit and humour, and who was a severe and entertaining music critic.