THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 219, 3 September 1943, Page 2

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

MONDAY MUSICAL insects will be the preoccupation of Station 1YA for a few minutes on Monday evening, September 6. The Decca Little Symphony Orchestra has associated the flea and the mosquito on one record, and the record will be heard at 9.39 p.m. There is scope in the idea — for Handel’s Israel in Egypt had buzzing flies in its description of the plagues; Couperin, Schumann and Grieg all put butterflies in music, and bees also have their place — we need hardly say where. Aristophanes’ Wasps animated the overture that Vaughan Williams wrote for the play, and there is always the Italian tarantula spider, whose bite was said to have been cured by dancing a tarantelle, Add Mexico’s Cucuracha, and the anthology seems to have covered most varieties. So we leave it to 1YA to provide the sequels to "The Song of the Flea" and "I Danced with a Mosquito." Also worth notice: * 2YA, 8.30 p.m.: Schumann Violin Sonata (Studio). 3YA, 9.25 p.m.: Veracini Violin Sonata (Studio). 4YA, 8.25 p.m.: Masterpieces of Music (Dr. V. E. Galway). TUESDAY HE trouble about going back to Nature is to know where to begin, and where it will all end. Nature in a venomous mood eggs on little Tommy to scratch the walls and roll in the mud and jib at washing himself. Nature incites us to stay in bed in the morning and leave the garden to grow itself and the dinner to cook itself, and then she just laughs at us when they don’t. Even if we decided to go back to caves and gnaw bones and eat roots, we should soon find that» there weren’t enough caves and bones and roots to go round. But perhaps Mrs. Irene Mackay in her talk "Leave it to Nature’ from 2YA at 11.0 a.m. on Tuesday, September 7, will deal with medicines, or vivisection, or Family Planning. Also worth notice: 1YX, 9.0 p.m.: Contemporary Music. 4YO, 8.0 p.m.: ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata (Beethoven). WEDNESDAY WO. comparatively exotic and rarely heard composers appear in the musical programmes for Wednesday evening, September 8 — Antonia Carlos Gomez, a Brazilian, and Pantcho Vladigeroff, a Bulgarian. The one was a product of the 19th century fashion in Italian opera, the other a lover of the folk-music of his Balkan homeland. Gomez, the former, went from Brazil to Milan, and wrote operas that introduced exdtic subjects to his Continental audiences, and in his I] Guarany he used themes heard from Indians of the Amazon basin. Vladigeroff, who was born in 1899, presumably still lives, and may yet be a professor at the Sofia Conservatory. The overture to Gomez's II Guarany «will be played by the 3YA Orchestra at 8.0 p.m., and Vladigeroff’s orchestral Bulgarian Suite will be heard from 4YO at 8.36 p.m. Also worth notice: 1YA, 8.0 p.m.: Ariel Choir. 2YA, 8.36 p.m.: Pictures in Melody. 3YA, 9.30 p.m.: Symphony No. 6 (Sibelius).

THURSDAY HE boy who is just on the borderline between good and bad, pass and fail, fat and thin, escapes attention but deserves sympathy, for it is he who is doemed to grow up into that unfortunate citizen, the Average Man, other-

wise known as the Man in the Street. He gets no applause, no sympathy, and no special respect, but then neither does he get the kicks and the jeers that fall to the lot of less conventional creatures, But perhaps this is not the sort of Borderline that» Major Lampen is going to talk about on Thursday, September 9, at 11.0 am. (from 3YA). It may be the North-West Frontier, or South of the Border, or even that popular pastime, Sitting on the Fence. Also worth notice: 1YX, 8.0 p.m.: Quartet in A Major (Bax). 2YC, 8.0 p.m.: Octet in E Flat (Mendelssohn ). 4YA, 9.25 p.m.: Symphony No. 4 (Sibelius). FRIDAY FROM 4YA and 4YZ on Friday, September 10, at 11.15 am. the A.C.E. talk will be called "Make It Do." This, in war time, with coupons and dress difficulties to cope with, sounds a pro--mising title for women listeners. Even if it deals with worn-out carpets, curtains that give no promise of staying together after the next washing, sheets that have been turned sides to middle once already, all housewives will listen attentively for a saving hint here or a re-making hint there. Perhaps we'll hear something really revolutionary about making things do; on the other hand, we'll all be glad to hear some new ideas on the subjects of slippers from hats, blouses from linen handkerchiefs, hats from ribbon and braid, and dazzling trimming from that old box of beads. We just wonder, for the sake of wondering, if anyone is going to suggest making the year-before-last’s spring hat do. Also worth notice: 2YC, 9.0 p.m.: Piano Sonata in G Major (Schubert ). 3YA, 8.14 p.m.: Six short modern songs (Studio). 4YA, 9.34 p.m.: Readings from James Hogg. SATURDAY F you need ideas for your week-ends listen to 2YA on Saturday, September 11, at 8.28 p.m. You may hear an answer to your problems. Of course the biggest drawback to a week-end is its shortness. With 'a week-end:of six days we could really get somewhere, though

it would be rather roygh on the man whose wife tells you brightly "Oh, I always leave the washing till the end of the week and then Harry can do it," Even as things are, poor Harry spends his time longing for the week-end to pass. Not so with the BBC, however. They have compiled a programme entitled "The Welcome Week-end," in which there is no mention of washing. No mention of work at all; in fact nothing but laughter, soft music, and blissful moments in the sun. Also worth notice: 1YA, 8.20 p.m.: Inia te Wiata (Maori bass). ~. 2YA, 8.4 p.m.: "Hester Siding" (play). 3YL, 8.0-10.0 p.m.: Music by Brahms. SUNDAY OME of us are old enough to remember the book that dated old age from 40-and the high-pressure sackings that followed. But those who listen to 2YA on Sunday afternoons know that maturity comes about 60, and old age somewhere after 90. In any case, we know that there are not one or two men only in Britain to-day who are over 80 and still "going strong," but a distinguished company of them: General Sir Ian Hamilton, for example, who commanded an army in the Great War, a Division in the Boer War, and a Company in the war of 1881; Robert Blatchford, whose Clarion was making Conservatives shiver 50 years ago; and Sir Henry Coward, whose Sheffield Choir is older than. penny postage. And what about G. B. Shaw, who at 87 can still wipe the floor with most of his critics; Lord Lugard, who was chasing slave-traders in 1888, and still answers Brains Trust questions for the BBC;.and Dame Ethel Smyth, who composed war-songs for the suffragettes, and at 85 is full of battle still? But listen at 3.0 p.m, next Sunday and you will not worry about your age any more. Also worth notice: 3YA, 3.0 p.m.: Music by Debussy. 4YA, 9.20 p.m.: Play, "R.U.R." (Karel Capek).