THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 289, 5 January 1945, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

MONDAY HERE is a rule in our office that nobody is ever first on the air, nothing even biggest or smallest or last. As often as we say, or allow someone else to say, that an item is being broadcast for the first time, someone writes to say that we are wrong; and in those cases we nearly always are. But this week we take a risk. We have it from the pianist, who has it from the composer, that six new Preludes for the Piano which Frederick Page will play at 2YA on Monday, January 8, have not before been heard in public. It is true that "in public" is a dangerously wide phrase, but we stick to it. The compositions are new, and if they have been heard by others than the composer’s friends, someone has been listening in without authority, and we shall expose him if he questions our claim to priority. In any case it is certain that there has been no broadcast yet of these pieces, and if you want to be among the first to hear them, tune in to 2YA at 8.41 p.m. next Monday night. Also worth notice: 2YH, 7.15 p.m.: ‘‘Dombey and Son." 1YA, 8.29 p.m.: Harold Williams (baritone). TUESDAY’ As late as the beginning of the 19th century ducking-stools were used in England to bring repentance to women with eagas| tongues. Then some irresponsible pe did away with them. Whether, in an item from 4YA at 8.0 p.m. on Tuesday, January 9, "Death of a Mischief-maker,"’ the speaker will devise a fitting end for makers of mischief, or whether the powerful weapon of ridicule will be used, we do not know. But whatever the method of approach, we shall be with the speaker wholeheartedly if the penance prescribed for mischiefmaking is dire enough. This session will be part of the Barbara at Home series, Also worth notice: 2YA, 8.0 p.m.: Violin Music and its Background. ’ 1YA, 8.15 p.m.: "We Speak for Ourselves" (BBC programme). WEDNESDAY THREE young men once went on a camping trip in Westland, one being recently from England. Talk at the camp-fire centred about the extinct moa. But was it extinct? The Englishman was very curious. In the dead of night the two New Zealanders made tracks of a huge foot through the bush. Morning light found the Englishman all excitement. But there was another similar track! Bewildered, the New Zealanders examined it closely, while the Englishman smiled. Next Wednesday, January 10, at 11.0 am. E. L. Kehoe will talk from 3YA about the rare birds of Westland, but we do not guarantee that one of them will be that moa. Also worth notice: 1YA, 7.30 p.m.: Boyd Neel String Orchestra. Re 9.33 p.m.: Legend of Cologne CatheTHURSDAY ‘THOUGH the era of the red-nosed comedian is over, many a middle-aged man to-day is bitten with a nostalgic bug on recalling the old vaudeville days when

floppy trousers and a crimson nose were the funny man’s stock-in-trade. Old-fash-ioned music, and ballads too, have their distinct appeal to many in spite of the current swing to swing. So for a laugh at ancient sentiments and follies, and perhaps a heartache or two for the "good old days," listen in to "Palace of Varieties’ (BBC) from 2YA on Thursday, January 11, at 8.30 p.m. Also worth tice: 2YH, 8.30 p.m.: Eileen Joyce, Sonata No. 15 in C Major (Mozart). 4YA, 8.49 p.m.: Hans Weisbach and Philharmonic Orchestra. FRIDAY (CHRISTMAS presents were such a problem this year that we have no thoughts left for the New Year-not enough anyhow to be able to recommend any special feature to listeners for Friday, January 12. Our mind, too, is full of "Current Ceiling Prices,’ or more or less static interlude from many stations. So, by way of a contrast, we turn to "Itma," from 4YA on Friday, at 8.3 p.m., when the rapid-fire comedian Tommy Handley will banish financial worries for a brief space. Also worth notice: 1YA, 7.38 p.m.: Irene Scharrer (piano). 2YA, 8.0 p.m.: Violin Music and its Back~ ground. SATURDAY PROGRAMMES sent in by listeners for broadcasting differ widely in ideas of entertainment. At times, so many requests for the one type of item come in that programme organisers are hard put to it to present the session most likely to satisfy all tastes. There have been occasions when hill-billy stuff has had more than its share of the microphone or when yodellers have vied with the noises of the mountain goat. But every effort is made to give a balanced programme, and at the same time to meet as far as possible the wishes of those who send in their requests. From 2YN at 7.0 p.m. on Saturday, January 13, the "Listeners’ Own Session" will be heard again, and we have reason for believing that it will be worth listening to. Also worth notice: 2YH, 8.16 p.m.: Yehudi Menuhin in "Prae ludium" (Bach) 2YA, 9.40 p.m.: Old-time dance music. SUNDAY HE one really popular English composer of standing in his time, Sir Arthur Sullivan, was also one’*of the most agreeable of companions, broadminded and welcome in all circles of society. The story of his collaboration with W. S. Gilbert is as familiar to lovers of light music as a@ ration book, but it may not be so generally known that at his instigation Schumann’s first symphony was introduced at one of the Crystal Palace winter concerts in London. More about the story of Sullivan will be broadcast from 1YA at 3.0 p.m. on Sunday, January 14. Also worth notice: 2YA, 9.50 p.m: "Barber of Seville" (Opera) 4YA, 9.22 p.m.: "The Moon is Down."