THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 376, 6 September 1946, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Charwomen Danced (GUSTAV HOLST’S "suite for large orchestras," called The Planets was recorded last year (under the auspices of the British Council) by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and this recording is the one to be broadcast by 3YA at 9.25 p.m. on Wednesday, September 11. The work was recorded some years ago, but in the meantime recording technique has advanced so far that there is no comparison between the two versions, because the main strength of The Planets is in the orchestral virtuosity and effectiveness of the scoring. The suite was first played in 1919, in London, and it jerked the world of English music out of a rut. The novelty of the work made a sensation, but it "caught on," and Imogen Holst, the composer’s daughter, records that "during ‘Jupiter’ the charwomen working in the corridors put down their scrubbing brushes and began to dance." About Criminals NEW series of four talks in 1YA’s ‘ ~ Winter Course sessions on Thursday evenings will begin on September 12 at 7.15 p.m. The general title of the series is "Crime and Punishment," and Professor A. G. Davis, Professgr of Law at Auckland University ‘College, will open the series with a talk entitled "Crime and Punishment in the ‘Good’ Old Days." The following Thursday, September 19, Miss Margaret Hargraves, Lecturer in History at Auckland University College, will speak on "Efforts in the Past to Ease the ‘Hard Lot’ of Criminals." The third talk, "How Crime is Punished To--dey," will be given on September 26 by Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., and the final talk on October 3, "How Ought we to Treat Criminals," will be given by C. L. Gillies, President of the New Zeaiand Howard League. Friday the Thirteenth E have done our best for the inquisitive reader, but havé altogether failed to find out what may be expected from the item listed as "Four Unusual Recordings" at 8.12 p.m. on 2YA’s programme for Friday the Thirteenth. Not -even the staff, we are told by 2YA, knows what is in them. So we can’t say whether they will be funny, or will make you miserable, are for adults only, or suitable for universal exhibition. For all we know they may be going to play something quite ordinary backwards, or play a 33-and-a-third disc at 78 revolutions per minute making a noise like an agitated duck. In view of the date, it may be good luck if the intended records are played at all and not broken. Relativity-Old Style E heard of someone once who had one of those wooden texts on the .wall of his office which said, "God gave us our relations; thank heaven we can choose our friends." This was all very nice, and a.source of amusement to his visitors-until his father-in-law happened to pay him a surprise visit. We hope there will be no such unpleasantness when Henrietta Wemyss starts talking over 2YA on Monday, September 9 (at

The Programmes 10.25 a.m.) about Aer relations-Henri-etta Wemyss, though, has anonymity to hide behind, which is possibly better than a desk, unless of course the three relations she proposes to discuss can identify themselves. They are "Uncle

James, Punctuality Fiend," "Aunt Euphemia, Moralist," and "Aunt Sophia-Jane, Indefatigable Globe-trot-ter," and Russell Clark’s notion of them we present herewith. Henrietta Wemyss, it will be remembered, has already caricatured herself in the capacity of Maiden Aunt. Thirty Years Ago MILITARY critics look on September 15, 1916, as a’ landmark in ‘the history of warfare. Since the beginning of July there had been an Allied offensive in the Somme Valley, and on September 15 the first tanks in. history rattled and clanked their way across No-Man’s-Land. The New Zealand Rifle Brigade remembers the day for an additional reason, for it saw the Brigade in its first action in the Battle of the Somme. The double anniversary will be remembered in a talk from the Main National Stations on Friday, September 13. This talk has been prepared by J. K. Moloney, a Christchurch solicitor wl served in the Rifle Brigade, first as a rifleman and later as an officer. His talk, which will be on the air at 7.0 p.m., will tell the story of September 15, 1916, and the part played that day by the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Sullivan Without Gilbert NEW Friday night composer-series is to start at 3YA on Friday, September 13-Sir Arthur Sullivan and his Music. There will be six programmes. and each one will contain an orchestral selection or overture from one of the Savoy operas, in addition to some of the non-Giibertian music Sullivan wrote. The ‘programmes were heard from 2YD last year. The first one starts with the "Di Ballo" overture, then two excerpts from Ivanhoe, a selection from H.M.S. Pinafore, and the song "My Dearest Heart." It will begin at 9.25 p.m. Handley in Tomtopia HE latest series of Itma has now arrived from the BBC, and is to begin at 2YA on Saturday, September 14, at 8.30 p.m. Station 2YH Napier is also to begin ‘an Itma series at the same time onthe same night, but don’t be de-ceived-it is an old one, though new to Napier. The real thing, which 2YA

offers, is the only extant record of Thomas Handley’s recent remarkable adventures as Governor Tomtopia. The enthusiasts, of course, have heard about them from London direct, in the BBC’s Pacific Service, but they have missed many of the finer points, which only a local broadcast can bring them. For the rest, who know nothing of what is in store, we can reveal that in this series Mr. Handley and his whole company (but where is Mrs. Mopp?) take their leave of London and go to Tomtopia, a place of cannibals, which Mr. Handley is required to govern. There are Colonel Chinstrap (Jack Train), Sam Fairfechan, the Welshman (Hugh Morton), Paramount Chief Biggabanga (Fred Yule), and his daughter (Lind Joyce), Miss Hotchkiss (Diana Morrison), and the two Japs who make a joint noise that can’t be represented on paper. Further informatiow plus any cables or photographs received from Tomtopia, will be published in due course, when listeners have ‘had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with what is going on. New Ravel Recording NEW recording has been made in America of the four pieces from Maurice Ravel’s suite for piano, Le Tombeau de Couperin, which were orches- trated by the composer. The recording is by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dmitri Mitropoulos, and Station 1YA will broadcast it at 9.49 p.m. on Friday, September 13. Le Tombeau de Couperin was a set of six pieces for piano written by Ravel during the first world war-it was begun in 1914 and finished in 1917-and although it contains no direct quotations from the music of Couperin, nor does it resemble it in any superficial way, it affirmed Ravel’s strong affinities with the spirit of music in the 18th Century. The four orchestrated pieces are Prelude, Forlane, Menuet, and Rigaudon.