NEWS AND NOTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 April 1938, Page 8

NEWS AND NOTES

Clever Kreisler. Many stories are told of the devices adopted by the famous violinist, Fritz Kreisler, to extend his repetoire for concert programmes by composing pieces and putting old masters’ names to them. In the throes of this youthful creative fever he turned out piece after piece which had a market value with a certain Leipzig publisher to the tune of £5 each. When the late Hugo Kreisler, the ’cellist brother, went from Vienna to Leipzig to study under the famous Klengel, money was pretty scarce. Fritz gave young Hugo a folio of six unpublished pieces, which he sold one at a time, and by dint of very careful managing, he contrived to live on the £5 each month for six months. Fritz Kreisler will be heard from IYA at 8.46 on Saturday, April 9. Without a Baton.

Tschaikowsky’s “Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29” will be played from 2YA on Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates. Years ago Albert Coates aspired to founding a school of conducting which does not use a stick. The idea first came to him when he saw the conductorless orchestra in Moscow. The first violin there acted as conductor as well as concert master. He sat in the centre of his orchestra with his men facing him, the violins with their backs to the audience. The result, according to Mr. Coates, was to give the musicians more confidence in themselves as well as in their leader. After careful rehearsal, Mr Coates believes that good orchestral players can play without excessive time beating. He uses the stick to set a change of rhythm, and in conducting opera (and, on request), but he usually prefers stickless conducting. Well-known Bandmaster.

A familiar broadcasting combination known throughout the whole world is Debroy Somers and his Band, familiar to thousands of people in the musical and theatrical professions as “Bill Somers,” and to hundreds of those with whom he has, in his varied life come into direct contact, as just “Bill.” A key to his present occupation, temperament, and outlook is given if you go back to his beginning, and realise that his father was an army bandmaster—which accounts for the musical side —and the fact that he was born practically in barracks. That early association with the Army inculcated in him a sense of discipline, loyalty and patriotism, which has been shown in his life and work in many years. Debroy Somers, in his exceedingly clever “arrangements” seems to get right inside every work, his scoring and orchestration is perfect, and the results are seen in productions which have the sense of precision and strength of the finest military bands, together with a tone-col-our and interpretation and a restraint which is comparable with the best symphony orchestras. Debroy Somers and his Band will be featured from IY-A at 9.55 on Saturday evening next.

The close of the N.B.S. 1938 radio play competition, for which handsome money prizes have been offered, remind one that Mr W. Graeme-Hold-er, who easily secured honours in the 1937 competition with his effort, “The Time Factor,” has since carried out a good deal of adaptation of stories for presentation in dramatic portions of the N.B.S. programmes. “U 97 was adapted by Mr. Holder’ from a play by C. S. Forester, and a recorded version is to be presented from IYA at 8 p.m. on Monday. The recording was made in the Wellington studios of the N.B.S. by a capable cast and is a drama staged in a submarine of the German Navy. This play is one of the most ambitious efforts in the long series of recordings made at the Wellington studios, and requires more than an hour for its presentation.

Winter being the most favoured time of the year for listening, the NBS rightly devotes its energies to the provision of visiting artists during that season. The first to be announced for this winter is an eminent Australian bass-baritone, Frederick Collier, who is due to arrive at Wellington on May 26, and who will immediately thereafter embark on a tour of the national stations. Mr. Collier has been in much demand by the Australian Broadcasting Commission for some time past and, during his stay in New Zealand, will present programmes ranging from ballad to oratorio. It is understood that the NBS has negotiated with a large group of Australian artists with a view to New Zealand tours.