THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 359, 10 May 1946, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

Auction Sale NORMA COOPER, who will give the morning talk, "Sold at Christies," from, 2YA at 10.25 a.m. on Monday, May 13, was in England before and during the war, and before she came back to New Zealand recently she made up her mind that there were certain places she must see before leaving — Christies being among them. She will describe in her talk how she attended a sale of ancient and modern pictures, and was surprised at the quietness of the scene, the small size of the gathering of buyers, and some of the prices. The full name of the firm is Christies, Manson and Woods Ltd., but it is always plain "Christies" in ordinary speech. Mountains and Money-lending HIS week’s Case to be dealt with by Chief Inspector French at 1YA (on Monday, May 13. at 10.15 p.m.) is

‘called "The Case of the Man who Loved Mountains" and we print here Mendoza’s portrait of him, supplied by the BBC who recorded the programme. "THe Man who Loved Mountains" was an_ elderly money-lender, and a great reader, and

his mountains and .money-lending are two of the clues in this latest of Freeman Wills Crofts detective problems. "Mr. Meredith" for 2YA HE serial "Mr. Meredith Walks Out" is about to begin at Station 2YA, on Wednesday afternoons at 3.0 p.m. The first episode will be heard on Wednesday, May 15. This serial was broadcast some time ago from Wellington’s 2YD, and has since been on some of the other NBS stations, but many Wellington listeners will no doubt welcome the opportunity to hear it again. "Mr. Meredith" is a millionaire who decides to go out into the world in some old clothes, and spend his time helping deserving poor, and so on. It may be that he had something in common with Charles Lamb, who once said that the greatest pleasure he knew was to do a good action by stealth and be found out by accident. The story is in 52 episodes, and it is a George Edwards Columbia production. Can Music Be Funny? ISTENERS to the BBC Brains Trust session which 2YA will broadcast at 8.28 p.m. on Friday, May 17, will hear the voice of one of England’s distinguished music critics, Edwin Evans, who died a few months ago. One of the questions, for which apparently Mr. Evans was chosen to attend, ig this: "Can humour be sustained in musical composition unaided by words?" Mr. Evans no doubt wished when he had to answer that question that he could employ musical illustrations as part of his answer, and we can imagine that he would have known where to find something in the symphonies of Haydn, or in that conspicuous sample of purely musical wit, William Walton’s Facade Suite, to make his answer clear. Other Brains to be picked in this session are those

of Sir Ernest Barker (author of Reflections on Government), Geoffrey Crowther (editor of The Economist), Commander C. B. Fry (cricketer), and Lt.Commander Gould. Mr. Molotov’s Uncle ‘THE composition to be broadcast at 2.0 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, from Station 2YA, gives us the opportunity to pass on a small piece of incidental intelligence that came our way only the other day. One way of describing it is to say that it was composed by Mr. Molotov’s uncle — the Mr. Molotov’s uncle. It is called "Poem of Ecstasy" and it was written in 1907 and 1908. For those who are in the know about these things, that is as much as to say that the composer, Scriabin, was Mr. Molotov’s uncle. And so he was. Mr. Molotov’s real name was Vyacheslav Mikailovich Scriabin, and he took his present name in 1906 when he took the oath of loyalty to the Communist Party. Thalassa, Thalassa! TE don’t know if the couple in the illustration have sighted a flat to let, but we do know (out of the bitterness of our own experience) that if they have it will be hailed with the same enthusiasm as. that with which Xeno-

phon’s wandering legions greeted the sea. Remembering how tribulation shared can be tribulation halved, we are certain that Ruth Wemyss will have a sympathetic audience for the talk, "Have You Ever Looked for a Flat?" which she is to give from 2YA on May 18, at 11.0 a.m. If she can make the topic humorous, so much the better. Let us, like Figaro, make haste to laugh at Fate (and landlords) lest they force us into tears. Non Anglus, Sed Angelus "PLY Away Herbert," a play by C. Gordon Glover, is a new production from the NBS studios which will be broadcast from 2YC at 8.0 p.m. on Sunday, May 19. Herbert, we believe, was an ordinary sort of English bloke, who liked his beer at the pub-until he got married. His wife, a goodish kind of girl, weaned him from his worldly habits (under the influence of her mother), and set about making him respectable, with some success. But the effect on Herbert was to cause him some physical discomfort-lumps on _ his’ shoulderblades that got more and more painful. Time went on, and they sprouted as wings. Herbert flew away, and the spell was not broken until his wife actually came to the point of smiting her mother, whereupon there was a rushing mighty wind, and the return of Herbert, less wings.

All in 60 Minutes "(\NE Hour, One Night," a play by the English writer Edward Harding, will be heard.from Station 3YA at 9.22 p.m. on Sunday, May 19. It is a thriller about a series of coincidences which all occur in one hour. An Englishman in the paper-making industry is approached by a foreigner who purports to be the representative of a Swiss firm, and wants a certain kind of paper. One thing leads to another, and before the hour is up, it is,discovered that the foreigner wants the paper for some piece of forgery to be committed in Germany. The action is set in post-war England, and the play has been produced in the studios of the NBS. A New Recording IBELIUS’ Violin Concerto in D Minor Opus 47, has lately been recorded in England by Ginette Neveu, with the Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Walter Susskind, and it will now be possible for New Zealand listemers to become familiar with the work. The standard recording of the Concerto so far has been that made by Jascha Heifetz, and copyright difficulties obstruct its use. Sibelius wrote this concerto in 1903, and in the words of Olin Downes (music critic of the New York Times): "Only the broad and melodic slow movement follows tradition. In the first, the violin enters with the characters of improvisation. The rhapsodic nature of the music is sustained .... by extensive cadenzas which are free poetical developments of the thought .... The final movement is a curious species of rondo, in which the violin sweeps and skirls over an accompaniment of intentional monotony, or screams like a banshee over the tumult." Station 2YA will broadcast the new recording at 8.26 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14.