Around The Nationals

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 118, 26 September 1941, Page 24

Around The Nationals

HEN we think of Negro singers, \ x | most of us think of Paul Robeson. He is probably the greatest of them all, and he is certainly a very great bass. There are others, however, and among them is Roland Hayes, who is America’s leading Negro tenor. Perhaps the first Negro ever to achieve international fame, he has toured America, England, and the Continent, and also has had the distinction of singing at a Royal Command performance in London. He has a voice of real tenor quality, trained for over twelve years by the best teachers. His particular forte is in the singing of Negro spirituals. 1YA will broadcast a short recital of Negro spirituals by Roland Hayes at 9.31 p.m. on Monday, September 29. ue Eg as yO have written a symphony that connoisseurs attributed to Mozart may be considered no small achievement. Therefore, more than ordinary interest attaches to the fact that 3YA is broadcasting, on Sunday, Septe r 28, the Symphony in E Flat by C Friedrich Abel. A German by birth, Abel and his friend, John Christian Bach (son of John Sabastian) lived for many years in London where they gave subscription concerts and introduced several new works to London audiences. Abel began as a pupil and choirboy of Bach’s in Leipzig, became a proficient ‘player on the viola da gamba, harpsichord, and horn, and was appointed chamber musician to Queen Charlotte. bag ae Ey (Tr HERE is a risk in these days of child prodigies -- Yehudi Menuhin, Guila Bustabo, and Lorin Maazel-that quantity has overcome quality. Listeners to 4YA on Monday, September 29, therefore, may take their time in assessing the worth of Ida Haendel. She was born at Colne in Poland 18 years ago, and studied the violin under the tuition of Carl Flesch; at the age of ten she left the Warsaw Conservatory with its gold medal as her prize. When she was thirteen, she played Brahms’s Violin Concerto under the baton of Sir Henry Wood and aroused his enthusiastic praise; he even compared her to the great Belgian, Ysaye. She has remained perfectly natural, however, and is, be it noted, an incurable film fan. bg bs * 4 HREE of the world’s best known light ‘operatic composers are Franz Lehar, Edward German and Rudolph Friml. Lehar, an Austrian, was responsible for such successes as The Merry Widow and The Count of Luxembourg; German, an Englishman, which is surely a contradiction in terms, is most famous for his Merrie England; and Friml, who lives in America, wrote Rose Marie, The Firefty, and several other very successful musical shows. Thomas E. West, tenor, has chosen a bracket of songs by these composers for his studio recital from 3YA on Tuesday, September 30.