THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 323, 31 August 1945, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

MONDAY another page in this issue we devote a good deal of space to advising listeners to hear a special 90-minute programme from the BBC, "The Harbour Called Mulberry." On September 3 there will be a programme from 2YN, Nelson, that is also out of the ordinary. "We're From Trinidad," another in the Travellers’ Tales series, brings to the microphone travellers from the land of thé humming bird (it is also a land of pitch) to give songs and reminiscences. Also worth notice: 3YA, 9.25 p.m.: Quintet in F (Bruckner). 4YA, 3.30 p.m.: From Bach’s "Musical Offering."

TUESDAY HE effulgence of "Starlight" from 4YA at 10.0 p.m. on Tuesday, September 4, will be focused on a star far from light, a star indeed who carries a good deal of weight. This is Tessie -O’Shea, whose sylph-like form is usually introduced in her stage appearances by the signature tune "Two-Ton Tessie." In the latest number of the BBC’s series "Stdrlight," Two-Ton Tessie is accompanied at the piano by Eric James, and at the organ by Robin Richmond." Also worth notice: 2YA, 8.0 -p.m.: Beethoven Hour, 3YA, 7.15 p.m.: "Earliest West . Coast Diggers." WEDNESDAY N March of last year, New Zealand lost one of its best pianists, Noel Newson. He was very well known to radio listeners all over the country for his broadcast recitals, and also for his work as accompanist to distinguished visiting artists such as Alexander Kipnis, Dorothy Helmrich, and Essie Ackland. On Wednesday, September 5 next, a memorial concert is to be given in Christchurch by various musical bodies and leading musicians, to raise funds for a suitable memorial endowment, and two excerpts from this concert will be relayed by 3YA. In the first half, beginning at 8.0 p.m., the 3YA String Orchestra will play a memorial elegy written by Douglas Lilburn. Later the Christchurch Male Voice Choir (for whom Noel Newson used to be accompanist) will sing, and Schubert’s B flat trio will be played by Ernest Empson, Gladys Vincent, and Francis Bate. Also worth notice: 2YC, 8.0 p.m.: Mozart’s Concertos, 4YO, 9.0 p.m.: "Paris" (Delius). THURSDAY SYMPHONY for strings by the Danish composer Asger Hamerik (1843-1923) will be heard from 4YA at 8.17 p.m. on Thursday, September 6, played by the BBC Northern Orchestra. Hamerik studied piano under Bulow and orchestration under Berlioz (he claimed to be the only pupil), and he wrote, among other things, six symphonies, to which he gave the following titles: Poetique, Tragique, Lyrique, Majestueuse, Serieuse, and Spirituelle. The sixth, the Symphonie Spirituelle, is written for strings only and thig is the one that will be heard. Also worth notice: 2YA, 9.40 p.m.: Solos and Duets (Studio). 3YL, 8.30 p.m.: Music by Chopin.

FRIDAY E in New Zealand don’t know very much about gipsies, beyond perhaps reading George Borrow, or Professor Walter Starkie’s Raggle-Taggle books. Perhaps we have some vague association of ideas with caravans and tinkers, and some radio listeners perhaps have bothered to discover the meaning of zigeuner or tzigane. In The Listener office, we confess we did not know until we consulted the Encyclopedia Britannica that "tinker" was in fact a corruption of zigeuner or tsigane (the German and Hungarian names). And for the moment we had forgotten that "gipsy" itself comes from "Egyptian." However, two Christchurch musicians propose to let us know a little more than we do about the lore and music of the gipsies. Myra Thomson (soprano) and H. G, Glaysher (harp) will give four programmes front 3YA called "The Romany Harp," be+ panies at 7.30 p.m. on Friday, September 7. Also worth notice: 1YA, 8.32: Matthias the Painter" 2YA, 8.25 p.m.: Travellers’ Tales,

SATURDAY MITRI KABALEVSKY is the first of four Soviet composers to be featured in 2YC’s programme on Saturday evening, September 8. The overture to his opera "Craftsman from Clancy" (after Romain Rolland’s novel "Colas Brugnon") will be heard at 9.1 p.m. Kabalevsky is 41, played the piano by ear at six, but did not study music till he was 14. He worked at composition undef Miaskovsky in the Moscow Conservatoire, and later became a professor there. He has written two operas, ballet music, symphonic works, chamber music, theatre and film music. He has also given much time to work as a music ‘critic and edits the review Soviet Music. A photograph of Kabalevsky appears on page 20 in this issue. Also worth notice: 2YA, 8.0 p.m.: Itma. 3YL, 8.0 p.m.: Handel’s Concerti Grossi. SUNDAY ESMOND McCARTHY gave a very interesting talk from the BBC not long ago on Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, extolling its virtues, and pointing out that most people who think they know the book only know an abridgment of one part of it. A BBC programme in the series "Have You Read-?" ta be heard from 3YA at 3.50 p.m. og Sunday, September 9, is devoted t@ Robinson Crusoe. It takes the listenet further than most people’s reading ha@ taken them-into the background of its writing, and into the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who inspired it, who was marooned for five years on Juan Fernandez, and who had almost forgotten how to talk when he was picked up. And it unearths this interesting quotation, re ferring to the time when Crusoe was in China and was considering a merchant venture to Japan: "But my partner dis suaded me, for the Japanese are a false, cruel, and treacherous race." _ Also worth notice: 2YA, 9.50 p.m.: Opera, "Orpheus" (Gluck) 4YA, 922 p.m: Play, "The Great (Linklater).