THINGS TO COME A Run Through The Programmes

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 50, 7 June 1940, Page 6

THINGS TO COME

A Run

Through The Programmes

S opportunity offers during the week, the NBS records topical war talks which originate from Daventry. They are selected first for their interest to New Zealand listeners, but at this distance from the transmitters reception conditions must also be considered before it is decided to record them for re-broadcast. However, no week goes by without something good coming over well, and each Thursday evening 2YA gives a re-broadcast at 7.30 p.m. On Saturday evenings, 2YA’s "Topical War Talk" is relayed through New Zealand. Most favoured speaker is Wickham Steed, one-time editor of the London "Times." Although he is now just on seventy years of age, his mind is still more than usually vigorous and, as a broadcaster, one of his big attractions is a vigorous voice. On With The Dance Modern ballroom dancing is subjected to as many fluctuations in fashion as the Stock Exchange is subjected to booms and slumps. And since the day the bottom fell out of the

Black Bottom, the mounting frenzy of contemporary capering has not decreased. It seems a very. long time since the Turkey Trot was a la mode, so far has the Terpsichorean muse progressed (or retrogressed if you like). Nowadays, the dance sometimes appears like a cross between a three-two-three scrum and the Boneless Wonder. But no doubt there are still ballrooms where the sedate glide gracefully. A. L. Leghorn is to talk on "Modern Ballroom Dancing" at 9.40 p.m. on Thursday, June 13, from 3YA Christchurch, and, despite the flippancy of this paragraph, we are sure he will have much to say of interest. Auckland’s Turn The Trade Winds of music blow from Auckland this week, and a reading of the

programmes for the Music Festival in this issue, shows what truly good news for music lovers the winds are bringing. We do not know your particular taste, but we do suggest that there is something here to appeal to everyone. The Centennial Festival Symphony Orchestra will be heard in a number of major works; there will be opportunities of hearing the visiting celebrity singers; and if that were not enough, there are works for choirs, and chamber music. Operatic Riddle Before he had completed his. opera "Turandot," Puccini the composer died. At a conference between his heirs, his publishers and Toscanini, the composer Alfano was chosen to complete the work. So brilliantly did Alfano execute his task that it is extremely difficult to recognise the place where the first musician left off and the other began. The libretto is based on a fairy play by Carlo Gozzi, adapted from an Eastern Legend, and tells of the heartless Princess Turandot and her three riddles which each suitor to her hand must answer correctly or die. We suggest that if listeners want a puzzle of their own they should try and pick where one composer finished and the other took over, when this opera-a rather special one-is broadcast at 8 p.m. on Sunday, June 9, from 2YA, Wellington. Wanted: A World It might be suggested that all we need these days is to find a lost world; but if we can’t have_it in actuality, we can have it in fantasy. For example, we can read More’s’ "Utopia," or Samuel Butler’s "Erewhon"or, with rather less effort, we can listen to the serial, "Out of the Silence," the radio dramatisation of Erle Cox’s Australian novel. "Out of the Silence" tells of the discovery of a lost world, with an extremely advanced form of civilisation. The cast includes two actresses well-known to listeners and radio play fans -Honor Sim and Thelma Scott. The serial is now to be heard from 1YA Auckland on Monday evenings, and it is heard also from 4YO Dunedin. The Earth For Men With the present pressing so close, it is difficult to think rationally even of the immediate future. Dr. F. J. Turner, in 4YA’s Winter Course series, seems to be bolder even than the man who dares to say what will happen to-morrow, or the day after. On Tuesday, June 11, at 7.30 p.m. he will discuss the future of the Earth as an abode for men. But perhaps after all his predictions

have a foundation to justify them. He has been talking about the rocks, and the natural forces. which threw them up, and scoured them down, to make hills and valleys and fertile plains. These are large matters, but rather more tangible than the performances of the people that move about over them and live off them. Dr, Turner is giving no prophetic talk about men and their mad ways. He deals with facts, and facts which in this case strike the imagination. If he were talking of the future of Man as an inhabitant of the Earth we should be more doubtful. ‘Cello And Harp That attractive musical combination Nancy Estall (‘cellist), and George Glaysher (harp) are playing again from 3YA; on Sunday, June 9, at 9.15 p.m. They have selected such mellow pieces as "Softly Awakes My Heart" and Kreisler’s "Liebesfreud." Much as she has deserved them, Miss Estall has not always had good audiences. Where she played in Sydney while studying under Edmund Kurtz, she was worried about the reactions of near-neighbours to her practising. However, one said, "Go ahead, I can’t hear you for my radio"; and another, "It’s all right, I’m deaf"; but the third said, "I could listen for hours." This last, we expect, will once again be the verdict of listeners, next Sunday. " The Face Changes The face of London has changed drastically during the past few months, Where there were pleasant parks and gardens are now steel-roofed shelters against air attack. Noble buildings greying with the centuries’ dust are now buttoned up to the chin with sandbags. And while we all hope that Macaulay’s words about the New Zealander viewing the ruins of the city will not come true, we know that the old London is slowly passing into legend and story. All of which serves to draw attention to the BBC programme "London-A Somewhat Misconducted Tour," to be broadcast *by 2YA Wellington, at 8.32 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11, Modern Composer As a student of Stanley Oliver’s, both privately and as a member of the famous Schola Cantorum, Merle Gamble is very interested in modern composers and, as may be expected, is well able to interpret them. Her items from 2YA on Tuesday, June 11, at 9.30 p.m. are concerned exclusively with

one of them: Peter Warlock. This musician died young. His real name was Phillip Heseltine. He is described as having combined high artistic idealism with a cynical outlook upon life. The combination was evidently too much for him. In 1930 he died, " apparently by his own hand." Mrs, Gamble has found a group of five of his songs suitable for her soprano voice. She has been in Wellington only 18 months. In Wanganui, her home town, she was Merle Spurdle, daughter of a well known Wanganui musical family. Her mother is a member of another, the Webb Joneses. Making Fun of Legend The Rev. Richard Harris Barham successfully made fun of many a medieval legend when he wrote his "Ingoldsby Legends," clothing venerable tales in grotesque or

frankly comic garb. Perhaps the best known of his humorous stories in verse is the one about the thieving jackdaw of Rheims, which stole a ring from a Cardinal. Our artist illustrates this poem: O. L. Simmance will illustrate some others when he gives readings from " Ingoldsby Legends" at 8 p.m, on Wednesday, June 12, from 3YA Christchurch. We think you will find that Barham’s poetry has lost none of its wit and raciness, Best Play There are some critics who consider that "Othello" is not only the best play Shakespeare ever wrote, but also the best play in the English language. There is action in "Othello," exciting and compelling action, and shattering final tragedy. Yes, we know the story was borrowed from an old Italian tale. But as the French artist Gaugin said, "Art is either a plagiarist or a revolutionist": and Shakespeare’s art was both. If you do not know the play, listen in at 9.15 p.m. on Sunday, June 9, to 4YA Dunedin, and see how he elevated a simple story by the genius of his imagination and poetry.