THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 449, 30 January 1948, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

Down Argentine Way ALL that most of us know about Argentina is that it raises beef cattle, that it is second in area and population of the countries of South America, and that novelists, film-makers and _ songwriters have mined it extensively for local colour. And conscientious listeners to the radio will have heard the vocalist in a certain American dance band, following the debunking craze by advising somebody or other to "take it away." But Argentina will be brought to New Zealand through 4YA on Tuesday, FebTuary 3, at 7.15 p.m., in the first of three talks by a_woman who was born there-Lucie Walker-Leigh, a _ recent visitor to New Zealand. Mrs. WalkerLeigh will tell listeners a good deal about this country of more than 1,000,000 square miles, divided into 14 provinces and nine territories. Her second talk will be heard at 7.15 p.m. on Tuesday, February 10, and the third at the same time the following Tuesday. Cinema Organ Recital (CHARLES SMART, whom listeners to 3YA will hear at the theatre organ at 7.57 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3, in a 15-minutes’ BBC programme, was a church organist when he was only 14. He turned his attention to cinema organs in 1920 after serving with the gunners in the First World War, and for eight years was organist at the Plaza, one of London’s largest picture-houses. He first broadcast on the BBC theatre organ in 1936 from St. George’s Hall, London, That fine instrument, incidentally, was one of the casualties of the war; it was destroyed when St. George’s Hall was bombed during the London blitz. Smart has been heard in a number of BBC variety programmes, and is now ° with the BBC Variety Repertory Company. He will be heard on Tuesday evening in a programme of popular tunes, played without interruption after the opening announcement. : Popular Ballads _{OLIDAY FOR SONG is the title of : ; ; : ‘ a new session be heard from 2YA every Wednesday night for the next few months. This is an Australian series, produced by Hector Crawford, and it features Glenda Raymond (the young soprano who sang recently in the radio role of Dame Nellie Melba), John Lanigan. (tenor), Noella Cornish (contralto), and David Allen (baritone), all of whom are well-known singers on the air in Australia. Accompanied by Eunice Garland at the piano, they present a bright and attractive halfhour programme of solos, duets and quartets from popular ballads. The first session of Holiday for Song will be heard from 2YA at 8.30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4. Brass Band Festival BRASS band music has just as great a popularity among working men in Britain as it has in New Zealand, and there are over 200,000 bandsmen in that country, in shipyards, collieries, aviation works-in almost every kind of occupation. Each year 320 bands compete in the area contests and 14 of them

qualify to play in the National Championships. The contests go back for nearly 100 years, and in many workers’ homes there is a tradition of band playing that has lasted for generations. Small children, they say, are given cornet mouthpieces instead of comforters,

and at the age of six are often quite skilful players. The BBC made a recording at the 1946 Brass Band Festival at London’s Albert Hall featuring massed playing by the eight finalists of that year, and it will be heard from 1YA at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday, February 5. The bands play Walford Davies’ Solemn Melody, the Carmen suite, and Tchaikovski’s 1812 Overture, and they are conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent.

Queer Goings-on HINGS that go bump in the night, lights that fail at critical moments, windows that open and shut apparently by themselves, and other ghostly goingson make up the background of Leon Gordon’s thriller, The Man Upstairs, to be heard in the Radio Theatre session from 2YA at 8.0 p.m. on Friday, February 6. It fell to one Robert Brett to investigate these oddities, in a lonely country mansion which contained, somewhere or other, the writings of a great Indian prophet, and to do something about the gangsters who coveted these Oriental MSS. Brett, played by Owen Ainley, is a foppish, seemingly irresponsible type of Englishman, who contributes much of the humour and most of the action. Others in the cast are Maiva Drummond, Nellie Lamport, Sidney Wheeler, and John Fernside. Leon Gordon was in New Zealand several years ago starring in his own play, White Cargo, which by its strength and liberal use of the great Australian adjective, stirred critics and audiences in the four main centres. Masque of Reason HEN A Masque of Reason, written by the American poet Robert Frost, was first performed in England recently, the BBC made a recording of it, and this will be heard from 3YA at 8.25 p.m. on Friday, February 6. The poem, which is unlike Frost’s usual realistic portrayals-of everyday life in New England, consists of a metaphysical discussion between Job and the voice of God, with interruptions by Mrs. Job. Frost, who was once described as "the most eminent poét writing in America," was born in San Francisco, but has spent most of his life on the New England farm country with which his poetry is identified. He has had a varied career, working first as a bobbin-boy in a Massachusetts mill, then making shoes, editing a country newspaper, school-teaching and finally farming. His Collected

Poems was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1931. His poetry is generally characterised by its restraint in both emotion and language, and by the colloquial (though never loose) blank verse which he favours. Faure HE music of Gabriel Fauré, the French composer and teacher of Ravel, Koechlin and others, has been the subject of increased interest in Britain and America over the past few years, and the centenary of his birth in 1945 was the occasion for broadcasts in this country of several of his orchestral works which had not been heard before. While there is still no unanimity of opinion as to the ultimate value of Fauré’s work, his reputation has certainly been increasing steadily since his death in 1924, and in France he is acknowledged not only as a composer whose music "embodies the national qualities of grace and dexterity,’ but also as an innovator who has exerted a far-reach-ing influence upon contemporary French music. A recording of Fauré’s Requiem, a choral work for solo, chorus, organ and orchestra, will be heard from 1YX at 9.0 p.m. on Sunday, February 8. Corelli’s Bow . NOTHER recital of music on ancient instruments will be presented from 2YA by Zillah and Ronald Castle on Sunday, February 8, at 2.20 p.m. Included in the works to be heard is a Bach choral prelude for viola and harpsichord, a sonata for treble recorder and harpsichord by the Moravian composer, Godfrey Finger, and the second violin sonata of Corelli. The playing of the last-named work will be the occasion of an innovation-the use of the "Corelli" type of violin bow. This bow differs from the modern w in that the stick has an outward curve, is light and slender, and finely fluted. In these qualities it is the reverse of the modern vio-lin-bow with its inward curve and its greater length and weight. Such early composers as Bach, Handel, Corelli, and Purcell had the earlier bow in mind when writing for the violin.