THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 160, 17 July 1942, Page 2

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

F we no longer build castles in Spain, we can at least from time to time pay an imaginary visit to humbler villages when we listen to Spanish traditional music. Much of this has been preserved by such composers as Enrique Granados, who, as a native of Catalonia, was well soaked in the traditions of that most independent of provinces. "Prelude and Six Pieces on Spanish Folk Songs" will be part of the piano recital by Andersen Tyrer which will be relayed from Auckland University College Hall on Sunday afternoon next (July 19, 3.35 p.m.). Featured Stars We have it on the authority of the best Hollywood periodicals that between film star and feature player a great gulf yawns, a gulf created by the fact that whereas feature players are featured film stars are starred. But we notice that from 3YA on Tuesday evenings comes a‘session called Featuring Film Stars, and as far as we know no publicity agent has yet raised his voice in protest. On Tuesday, July 21, it’s Judy Garland who has consented to this lowering of her professional status, and her many admirers will probably enjoy hearing her sing such old favourites as "Over the Rainbow" and "Everybody Sing". Ring Out Wild Bells Whatever travellers may have to say about the music of cattle-bells in the Austrian Oberland, most people prefer to listen to a more varied musical pro-' gramme, and this explains the fact that those who want to have music wherever they go usually carry a portable radio set rather than bells on their toes, In fact, as any Wellingtonian born within the sdund of the carillon will tell you, there’s a curious monotony about the sound of bells, and it’s easy to understand the attitude of the maiden who affirmed that Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight. But a more varied "Carillon" programme is offered by 2YA on Friday, July 24,:when listeners will hear the Westminster Glee Singers in "The Bells of Saint Michael’s Tower" and Henry Ainley in a recital of Poe’s "The Bells". Listen to Liszt We, who still like to think ourselves of the newer generation, are a little tired of being told that we "haven’t got the training, discipline, and broad experience" of the old boys. This is, however, what Felix Weingartner declared after he and Emil Sauer had finished their recording of Liszt’s First Pianoforte Concerto. In fact his delight at the success of this performance was such that Weingartner is reported to have danced a jig in the studio, despite his three-score years and ten, Listen to 3YA on July 24 and you will hear this Concerto at 7.30 p.m, Salt Sea Mystery "Coffin ship" has a sinister sound: in itself and sinister are the goings on in the good (or not very good) ship Megara from the time she leaves Sydney for Apia. Apart. from men lost overboard and the order to abandon ship, there

comes an entirely new-turn in events which will prove as surprising to the listener as it was to Captain Framm. If you like melodrama, mystery, and salt sea breezes you should tune in to 2YA on the evening of Sunday, July 26, for this new radio play by W. GraemeHolder. Tirra Lirra Giving way to what may be quite a pardonable impulse, 2ZB forsakes the dismal present to present a session entitled "Medieval Meanderings" next Wednesday evening at 9.30. What the

meanderings are is not specified. The title may hark back to Mark Twain, whose Connecticut Yankee at the Court of King Arthur found that the "boys" of the Round Table were inclined to wander off and "go-a-Grailing" occasionallly. There were, it is true, other ways of meandering. Readers of T. H. ("The Sword in the Stone") White will remember that "questing" was another way of getting clear of domestic crises, the knightly husband riding off to hunt unicorns, or basilisks, or simply to have a friendly swat at another wandering escapist. These are pointers to the possible subject-matter of the 2ZB session, but 2ZB will have the last word! How's Your Etiquette? Do you breathe in or out when taking soup, or do you expire only after taking it? Do you have to batter green peas to pulp before you can balance them on a knife? Do you tie your table-napkin firmly round your neck, or, if not, can you slide gracefully under the table and retrieve it without losing your aplomb?

In short, what is your Social Dexterity Quotient? If it is low or if, on the basis of two into one won’t go, it simply doesn’t exist, then you should give ear to the A.C.E. who will be giving tongue from 4YA on July 24 on the subject of "Etiquette at Parties". And in case the A.C.E. doesn’t mention it, we’ll pass on a red-hot topical tip: don’t swipe more than one spoonful of sugar when the bowl comes around! For Scots-And Other Free Men Something like a round of applause should go, we think, to 2ZB’s "Andra" for believing that January 25 is not the only day in the year in which Robert Burns may be brought to the attention of an English-speaking audience. The Burns anniversary programme which he is to compére on Tuesday next, instead of celebrating the birth, commemorates the death of the greatest of all Scottish poets, who died on July 21, 1796, rich in nothing but renown, If, indeed, we have anything to criticise in what "Andra" is doing it is the fact that he still bows to tradition by tying his broadcast to an anniversary. Burns needs no such excuse and his poetry of freedom and democracy is a treasure-house which we might well plunder more frequently in these times. Spring Fever In this part of the world the seasons get so mixed that the first primroses and grape hyacinths are pushing their way through the ground while chrysanthemums still hang dejectedly on windbattered stalks. Not so however in Europe, where Spring is officially ushered in on a set day sponsored by dancing youths and maidens, bonfires, and decorated doorways (for which, in 1942, read snarling tanks and bursting bombs). Spring, as the Slavonic tribes of ancient Russia greeted it, is the theme of Stravinsky’s " Rite of Spring" (2YA, Tuesday, July 21). Stravinsky is not everybody’s meat and some may agree with Siegfried Sassoon when: he says: "TI am frantic With Corybantic rupturing of laws. Lynch the conductor! Jugulate the drums! Butcher the brass! Ensanguinate the strings! Throttle the Flutes! Stravinsky’s April comes With pitiless pomp and pain of sacred strings." Conversely, this may make you all the more eager to tune in to 2YA next Tuesday at 8.23 p.m.