"AS OTHERS SEE US"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 66, 27 September 1940, Page 4

"AS OTHERS SEE US"

Sir,-I was disappointed in your editorial ("As Others See Us") in reply to Fred L. Garland. I think it is fairly obvious that the main point in Mr. Garland’s letter was that, if it is necessary to omit any feature from The Listener, it should not be the programme chart, "What Would You Like to Hear," but rather some of the many features which you continue to include but which have not the remotest connexion with radio programmes. There is little doubt that this programme chart was to a large proportion of your readers, not only to lovers of classical music but to people of all tastes, the most useful part of the journal. You, however, in your editorial, made no attempt to reply to this point. Instead, you confined yourself to sneering at people who enjoy the really excellent programmes of good music which are broadcast from our naticnal stations, It is often said that lovers of good music, the so-called "high-brows," are intolerant of other people’s tastes; your editorial shows that the intolerance is not all on one side. Personally, I enjoy records by Sandy Powell and Gracie Fields, but your judgment is surely warped by prejudice when you say that nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine people would rather listen to them than Tchaikovski’s Nutcracker Suite or to his symphonies. If you yourself are bored by classical music and find Tchaikovski merely morbid, you may remember that a month or two ago a Centennial Musical Festival was held in New Zealand, in the course of which, I think I am safe in saying, Tchaikovski’s works were played more frequently than those of any other composer. The large audiences which attended these concerts and the enthusiasm with which the performances were received in all the principal centres of New Zealand showed quite conclusively that music-lovers, while they are probably a minority, form a not inconsiderable section of the listening public. Your last paragraph that "for every reader who wants symphonies, a thousand want hill-billies, and ten thousand Sandy Powell or Gracie Fields" is an insult to the people of New Zealand. As I said at the beginning of this letter, this editorial was a great disappointment to me. You claim that he who pays the piper calls the tune, and while this is true enough, you made no attempt to show that the programme chart was the least popular feature in The Listener. In fairness, however, I should say that I still enjoy reading The Listener, and I appreciate particularly the excellent explanatory notes which accompany the announcements in the programmes of the despised

symphonies.

TOLERANT

(Invercargill),

Sir,-With reference to the letter in this week’s Listener signed by Fred L. Garland, of Auckland, it is plain that your small leader deals efficiently with the position and with the somewhat random opinions and non-constructive criticisms of your correspondent. The task of catering for 40,000 subscribers to your paper, is a colossal one, and the measure of success you have attained is deserving of commendation. For my part, after listening to some Russian’s interpretation of the theme suggested to him by the musical bugs which drive him to expression, I find it a relief to turn to "Pat and the Pig" (page 16), or to Aunt Daisy’s recipe on Potato and Fish Soufflé. But then, my education in music has been neglected. I am not receptive to the soul-stirring British-hating foreigners, and I would gladly welcome the timely action of some patriot who would immerse all such people in a soufflé of Aunt Daisy’s design.

One suggestion only I make for your consideration. Give» us more dance music. Not only at night sessions when we can dance to it, but during the day, when it would prove a relief from business worries and an antidote to broadcasts of the slaughter of the innocents at Home. Not that I suggest we try and dissociate ourselves from the Battle of Britain, That is impossible, as it is just as much our battle as the battle of those on the Home Front, but cheery music (dance music with vocal renderings by orchestra leaders) will certainly help to keep up the morale of people generally. Let’s sing and dance in these perilous times! Those who want to listen in rapt and exquisite agony to the works of old masters can always buy a gramophone and spent the sums demanded by dealers for records of their favourites. Carry on the good work, Mr. Editor. When the war is over, and there is nothing else to fight about, we listeners may turn our attention to you, and start a non-constructive aggression, but in the meantime the "old masters,’ for my part, can lie idle on the shelves of the radio-library while we concern ourselves with the subduing of the would-be "new

masters,"

NOT HIGHBROW

(Takaka).