A MUSICIAN ON ART OF LISTENING-IN

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 103, 25 January 1935, Page 6

A MUSICIAN ON ART OF LISTENING-IN

Selection of Programmes

WHY DISCRIMINATION IS NECESSARY

'‘During my vacation, the first I have had in New Zealand, I have had a fine opportunity of becoming a little more intimate with radio and its programmes, and had more time to listen attentively to the programmes submitted by the various stations,” said Mr. Stanley Oliver, conductor of the Royal Wellington Choral Union yesterday, “It would appear that not a few musicians of note and indisputable ability and standing in this country have expressed themselves 'is unable to find radio music sufficiently attractive from the standpoint of supplying the need for high-grade music.” “I have to confess that such is not my experience,” said Mr. Oliver, “There have been played in recent weeks records of lovely performances of ' works I have never had the opportunity of hearing before, and possibjy in the ordinary course of life in New Zealand, would not hear them here for many years, if at all. I take up a programme! Here I find about to be broadcast Debussy’s opera, ‘Pelleas and Melisande,’ by the company of the Paris Opera Comique. This is a work I have longed to hear for years Now I will be able to hear it. Later on there is quite a lot of modern and ultra-modern music to be broadcast, such as Honueger’s symphonic tone poem, ‘Rugby,’ said by many to be a landmark in modern music: and lower down, the ‘Suite Bulgare’ by Wladigeroff, something quite new to this part of the world. Those Who Find Fault.

"How else could we bear «neh works except by radio? Then there are works by Dr. Indy on the programmes here that are new to me, and I p’-esume to many other musicians in this country.” “I strongly suspect that the underlying trouble with those people who are inclined to find fault with radio programmes lies with the listeners themselves,” said Mr. Oliver. “They should try and exercise the same discretion in their listening as they do in their concert going, or in choosing a meal from an exhaustive menu. You cannot eat everything that is provided—you simply follow the dictates of your palate, and choose such dishes as are to your liking. That is the only sensible and reasonable way of listening-look over the programme and listen-in only to what you fancy will interest or entertain you.

“But it is quite absurd for musicians to broadly condemn radio and the radio system simply because ■ a good deal of the music broadcast does not please them, for I maintain that radio is giving us a fair share of the music we want, and that which satisfies our aesthetic desires. If broadcasting is affecting local concerts it is not. in my opinion the fault of the Broadcasting Board, though the point mav be debatable. Where the Concert Scores. “With an even standard of performance the direct concert performance must always be favoured as against the broadcast, for at the concert one gets the fuller effect of direct contact with tile voices, instead of receiving it through a small frame, the sound of which is regulated by capacity of the loud-speaker employed. “It seems to be true in other countries that the more progressive the radio becomes in its choice of music the more the musical societies are inclined to fall back on their old repertoire. Economic conditions may largely account for that, but it is nevertheless true. The attitude of not a few musical societies—l am speaking broadly —to radio is defeatist, but I am disinclined to agree, with that attitude, as - I can conceive them being mutually helpful. "Because a man docs not hear precisely the class of music he likes whenever he tunes in he should not damn the whole business,” said Mr. Oliver in conclusion. “All I can say is that glancing through the programmes there is seldom a time between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. when I cannot get, at one station or the other, some new work well worth hearing, or renew my acquaintance with some tine standard work. To the people who switch on the radio first thing in the morning and allow it full play all day. I would say —‘Don’t!’ That way lies madness. Be discreet in your listening.”