Around The Nationals

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 143, 20 March 1942, Page 20

Around The Nationals

N important work in the form of a Trio for Strings and Piano by the Auckland composer, John Tait, will be broadcast from 1YA on Wednesday evening, April 1. Associated with the composer (piano) will be ' Winifred Hayes (violin) and Lalla Hemus (cello). The Trio is in three movements, ti:> first being "Allegro Modcrato" with short "Introduction." The middle movement "Adagio Cantabile" is in extended "Song" form. The final movement is a "Caprice" which here and there recalls some of the harmonies used in the introduction to the first movement. * % ANCASH RE woollen mills produced Gracie Fields and Lancashire pits have roduced the Bickershaw Colliery Band. Composed entirely of pit workers, the band first gained its reputation as the Abram Colliery Band, but in 1937 it took its present title. With William Haydock as conductor it has won over 290 =rizes, at the big festivals and c-n-petitions, in 1935 and in 1936, winning ti: Crystal Palace Championships. On Thursday, March 26, at 9.25 p.m. the Bickershaw Colliery Band will be heard from 1YA paying "The King’s Lieutenent" Overture (Titl). # é * IR D..N GODFREY has disclaimed that he has ever been embraced by + famous prima donna, or that he was ever a musical prodigy or smacked for surreptitiously playing the piano when he should have been in bed; but perhaps it is not so easy even in a large end rambling English mansion to play @ piano surreptitiously. Perhaps-also this is because he comes from a famous British famiiy of musicians who had no intention of curbing his infant talents. > 13 career is the subject in the For My Lady session to be given from 4YA on Thursday, March 26, at 11am. * * % HE tone poem Mannin Veen by Haydn Wood is based on Manx Folk songs. Four in particular stand out. "The Good Old Way" is an old and typical air |_ in the Dorian mode. "The Manx T:idler", the second air, is characteristic of a people of whom Chaloner wrote in the 17th Century that they were "much addicted to the music of the Violyne so that there is scarce a family in the Island but more or less can play upon it, but," (and this is not so good) "as they are ill composers:so are they bad players". The old days, when village disputes were settled by a jury of twenty-four men from each village, is recalled in the air "Sweet Water on the Common." The final theme "Harvest of the Sea" is a fine old hymn which the fishermen used to sing after their safe return from the fishing grounds. Those who are familiar with Manx airs will especially enjoy Mannin Veen to be heard from 3YA on Friday, March 27, at 9.52 p.m