THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 396, 24 January 1947, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Kun Through [The Programmes

It’s No Go BRYAN O'BRIEN, who went to the Antarctic for four months with Byrd’s second expedition, to work on the sponsored radio programmes which provided the expedition’s finance, is going to give a talk from 2YA at 7.0 p.m. on Monday, January 27, on the practical side of getting at the Antarctic’s mineral wealth. Before he came into radio work, he had some knowledge, as a law-clerk, of mining costs, and when he went to the Antarctic, he saw for himself what were the practical difficulties of organising and equipping even the smallest kind of investigation down there-the expense of the gear needed, fuel, and so on. His belief is that with these obstacles, and the psychological ones as well, involving the discipline of men under dreadful conditions, digging for minerals there is impractical. Bunyan is Modern "THE Reverend Dr. C. Bernard Cock‘ett, Honorary Secretary to the Australian section of the World Council of Churches, who was at one time minister of the Bunyan Meeting House at Bedford; England (where John Bunyan lived), passed through New Zealand recently on his way to England. While he was here, he recorded a talk for the NZBS, called "John Bunyan-Pioneer and Apostle of Church Unity." In this talk, which is to be broadcast from 2YA at 7.0 p.m, on Tuesday, January 28, Dr. Cockett tells us that he was thrilled to discover in Bedford that Bunyan was a,pioneer in the unity of the Christian faith, and is still ahead of the 20th Century in his outlook. The Bunyan meeting house itself is intended for a pattern of a united Church. The various forms of baptism, for instance, are all practised there, but the choice of any one of them is optional. Meet the Orchestra HE series of programmes called ‘" Who’s Who in the Orchestra which 2YD broadcast last year, is now to be presented "For My Lady" and is scheduled to be heard from 2YA, four mornings a week, starting on Monday, January 27, at 10.40 a.m., and continuing at the same time on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. It starts with the violins, and goes through the list which appears on the first page of a modern orchestral score, dealing in turn with the other strings, the wood-wind, brass, and percussion. In each programme there will be short examples of the tone and range of each instrument (from a set of recordings specially made for such a purpose), and then extracts from well-known orchestral works in which the characteristics of the instruments are exhibited in their natural settings. Dido and Aeneas NEW recording has been made in England (under the auspices of the British Council) of Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas, and it is to be heard from 2YA at 9.30 p.m. on Jan"vary 30. It was written for, and first. performed at, a girl’s school in England late in the 17th Century, but the sing-

ers in this version (which is edited by Professor Edward Dent) will include Dennis Noble and Trefor Jones, and some other unquestionably masculine voices; and among the women soloists are Joan Hammond (as Dido), Isobel

Baillie, and Gladys Ripley (all of whom, incidentally, have been to New Zealand). The orchestra is the Philharmonia String Orchestra, and the conductor Constant Lambert.

Rhythm with a Bump W E don’t know who is responsible for it, but we like the idea of the short (fifteen minutes) programme which 3YA is to broadcast at 6.0 p.m. on Sunday, February 2. It is called "Limericks and Landler-a Light Programme of Verse and Music." The second word may need some explaining--unless listeners remember that Lili Kraus played some Landler by Schubert as encores at her broadcast concerts last year. Landler, then, are plural. Limerickswell, everyone knows what a limerick is. As for what the two have in common, it is mainly that the rhythm is bumpy, with that extra heavy bump at the end of the line. "The More We Are Together" (provided it’s the triple-time version you know) is in landler rhythm. So are some of Mozart’s German Dances, which will be on 1YA at 8.30 p.m. the same evening. As for what the two don’t have in common-landler are usually fit for broadcasting, limericks not invariably. Station 3YA has no doubt taken .a judicious selection from Edward Lear, and The Week-end Book. Baldy Jackson "HE Winner Loses," ihe talk by Judith Terry which is to be heard from 2YA at 11.0 a.m. on Wednesday, January 29, is the story of a giant kauri tree which was the pride of the small northern town which had it for a landmark. "Baldy Jackson’ was its name-Baldy for the appearance of the tree, and Jackson for the name of the timber-miller who had the rights over the local forests. Mrs. Terry tells of the time’ when the local people felt the need of a school for the six children of school-age, and the others who would be coming along later. They suggested to the timberman that he should provide the building, and he replied by nominating the kauri tree for the timber. Their response was the natural one. But later they decided to yieldthey had their reasons-and the miller

agreed in return to meet the cost of the school. Why they yielded, and what happened when the tree was felled, is all the point of the story, which Judith Terry's title hints at. The Head | Left Behind Me... "HE Man with Two Heads" will give Nelson listeners a tense halfhour in the BBC series, Appointment with Fear, when 2YN broadcasts it at 8.21 p.m. on Friday, January 31. Suppose you were going home on @ bus, and a distraught stranger sat down by you and said he had cornmitted suicide that morning? That’s what happened to Mr. Henry Selby, a staid London business man, in his appointment with fear. And what happened then? Well, listen to 2YN. : Talks on Russia MPARTIALITY is not always the strong point of commentators on life in the Soviet Union, but Professor Eric Ashby has achieved this goal in three talks which Station 1YA is broadcasting at the moment. Professor Ashby, who has recently been appointed to the Chair of Botany in the University of Manchester, is an Australian scientist who spent a year as Counsellor of State at the Australian Legation in Moscow. In his talks he speaks about science, education, and agricultural research in the Soviet Union. As we go to press, his first talk has already been broadcast, but the other two will be heard from 1YA at 7.15 p.m. on Monday, January 27, and Monday, February 3. The talks will later be repeated from the other YA stations.