THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 276, 6 October 1944, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

MONDAY HE BBC has recently made anthologies of English poems on "Stars," "Swans," and "Trains," and the other day a Nelson listener wrote to us in appreciation of an anthology on "Houses." The records of this programme, as we write, have set off on their travels to another station (and will be heard from 3YA at 7.40 p.m. on Monday, October 9) but we understand that the poems are by Thomas Hood, Harold Munro, Edward Davidson, and J. C. Squire. They are read by Gladys Young and Robert Harris (one of the Empire newsreaders), and the music that is heard with them is by Arthur Benjamin. Also worth notice: 2YA, 8.41 -p.m.: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Britten). 3YA, 9.25 p.m.: Music by Haydn, TUESDAY At 8 p.m.’ on Tuesday, October 10, listeners to 2YA may hear for the first time one of the most outstanding of modern English choral compositions, William Walton’s "Belshazzar’s Feast," which remained unrecorded for many years because of the immense technical difficulties — the score calls for a large choir, a baritone soloist, a very large orchestra with a heavy battery of percussion, and two brass bands. It was written in 1931, but it was not until the British Council instigated a scheme during the present war for recording British music that might otherwise not be heard outside England that " Belshazzar’s Feast" found its way on to wax, after many, experiments had been made with recording technique. The text, which includes two psalms, was transcribed from the Bible by Osbert Sitwell. Also worth notice: 2YA, 9.40 p.m.: " Jupiter" Symphony (Mozart) é 3YL, 9.1 p.m.: Quartet in F (Ravel). 4YA, 7.15 p.m.: Talk on Basic English, _ WEDNESDAY "FOUR SALTWATER BALLADS" which will be sung from 2YA by Ernest Gardner at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 11, are settings by the English composer Frederick Keel of four ballads by the author of two of the best-known poems about the sea-John Masefield. There is "Hell’s Pavement," a poem on the thoughts of a ship’s fireman, "A Wanderer’s Song,’ and "A Sailor’s Prayer,’ whose titles explain themselves, and "Cape Horn Gospel," a nautical ghost-story. : Also worth notice: 1YA, 8.30 p.m.: Quartet in A, Op. 18 (Beethoven). . 3YA, 9.30 p.m.: Symphony No. 5 (Tchai- » kovski). THURSDAY F;ENCOURAGED by the title of Dr. P. R. McMahon’s talk to be given from 3YA on Thursday, October 12, at 7.15 p.m. — "Artificial Fibres and the Future of Wool"-we have been letting our imagination play with the idea of Fair Isle sweaters knitted from spun glass, hearthrugs woven from wood shavings, and beach suits moulded from milk products. Sand, wood and milk appear to have uses far beyond the oldfashioned ones of castle building, housebuilding and calf-feeding. And what of the future of wool? Is it possible that Dr. McMahon is going to tell us that

the time is coming when only wolves will dress up in sheep’s clothing? We have our own ideas on the subject, but we are looking forward with interest to this talk. Also worth notice: 1YX, 8.0 p.m.: "Death and the Maiden" Quartet (Schubert). 2YC, 8.0 p.m.: Trio in E Flat, Op, 100 (Schubert). FRIDAY ‘THOUGH you may not have been able to get free literature about it in return for a postage stamp, the 16th century equivalent of a modern course of home dancing lessons was a book by Thoinet Arbeau, a canon of Langres, France. It was called "Orchesography and Treatise in Dialogue Form by which Everyone Can Easily Learn and Practise the Honest Exercise of Dancing," and it gave you all the necessary advice, together with a number of dance tunes and instructions for playing them on drum and fife. From this book the English composer" Peter Warlock took several tunes and arranged them for string orchestra. You may hear the orchestral version from 4YA on Monday evening, and 3YA will present Szigeti’s arrangement for violin solo at 8.25 p.m. on Friday, October 13. The suite is named after Capriol, the pupil in Arbeau’s dialogue. Also worth notice. 1YA, 8.0 p.m.: Mozart’s ‘Haffner’ Symphony (Studio). 2YC, 9.36 p.m.: Sonata in A, Op. 101 (Beethoven). SATURDAY GGS for tea, in the days when the head of the family wore a beard and went to church in a buggy, sometimes meant eggs for the head of the family, an egg for mother, and the tops of the eggs for the children. Now fond parents hold off and hand the proteins over to the children. And that has more consequences than you may think. The child who missed out in one generation is the parent who still misses out in the next. Whether George Titchener, comedian, has any’ deep personal feelings in the matter, we don’t know, but one of his items from 3YA studio on Saturday, October 14, at 8.30 p.m., is called, "I Do Like An Egg for My Tea. Also worth notice: 1YX, 9.1 p.m.: Symphony No, 4 in A Minor (Sibelius). 3YL, 8.0 p.m.: "In Spanish Idiom." SUNDAY N the series "Men and Music" 4YA will present a programme at 4.0 p.m. on Sunday, October 15, on the English composer Michael Arne. It gives in dramatic form the history and background of the composer of one of the loveliest and most famous English songs of the 18th century-"The Lass with the Delicate Air." Contrary toa fairly common impression, this song is not the work of Dr. Thomas Arne, composer of "Rule, Britannia," but of his "shiftless, impossible, but entirely charming son" Michael. The lass of the song was Elizebeth Wright, as fragile a young lady as ever stepped out of the pages of history to enchant people two centuries later. Also worth notice: 1YA, 3.30 p.m.: Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven). 2YA, 8.5 p.m.: Opera "Don Giovanni" (Mozart).