THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 452, 20 February 1948, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

Life in Fleet Street \VHAT is it really like to work in Fleet Street? H. R. G. Jefferson will tell listeners something about his experiences as a London journalist in a series of talks from 3YA called The London Popular Press. He explains how in the popular papers-those like the Daily Mirror, which nave no real counterpart in this country-the news is always dramatized and built up into an exciting story, while very often inflated

and sentimentalised stories with no newsvalue at all are given a lot of space merely because they have a certain human appeal. Sometimes pictures will occupy almost a whole page if they tell a story more effectively’ than any words could. The result of all this is a tre‘mendous circulation-nearly four millions a day with the Daily Mirrorbut the actual value of this service to the reading public is questionable. The first talk, "Millions of Readers," will be heard from 3YA at 7.15 p.m. on Thursday, February 26, and the second and thitd, "Producing the Paper" and "Press -Fair or Not?" at the same time on succeeding Thursdays.

French Model | SESSION of overtures may\sound rather like a dinner consisting entirely of first courses, but listeners to 2YC’s session on The Classical Overture at 9.0 p.m. on Friday, February 27, should find the menu . varied enough. The first composer to develop the potentialities of the overture was the 17th Century French composer Lully, and his compositions in this form became the model for the French overture of that period. His form, which comprised a slow movement, a fugal allegro, and usually a minuet, was modified and developed by other composers, including Handel, Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Elgar. The session will describe the development of the overture and the modifications these ‘composers made, and it will be generously illustrated with their music. bo sore 8 Sonatas the next six weeks 1YA will each Wednesday a series of recitals of Mozart sonatas by Ina Bosworth (violinist) and Kathleen Harris (pianist). The sonata developed along two lines-"‘Chamber" and "Church" sonata and in the early 1770’s Mozart composed many sonatas for organ and. two violins (sometimes with stringed or wind instruments added) to be played in Salzburg Cathedral. But Mozart, as did Haydn, brought the dance element of the "Chamber" sonata into the sonata

which developed from the "Church" form. Actually Haydn, who was born 14 years before Mozart, greatly influenced the latter, but in turn was influenced by him, just as Clementi and Beethoven influenced one another. The first of the recitals by Ina Bosworth and Kathleen Harris will be heard at 7.56 p.m. on Wednesday, February 25, when they will play Mozart’s Sonata _No. 6 in G Major. Gospel Singer Prete s E. HOPKINS, an English evangelist and teacher of singing, who came to live in New Zealand last December, will make a series of six broadcasts from 2YA starting at 2.45 p.m. on Sunday, February 29. In these sessions, which will be along the lines of numerous broadcasts he made for the BBC during the war, Mr. Hopkins will sing and discuss well-known hymns. Popularly known in England as "The Gospel Singer," he received nearly 5,000 letters from listeners while broadcasting there, and he took part also in the BBC’s religious series Pioneers of the Kingdom. A veteran of the First World War, he was born in London and _ studied for four years at the Paris National Conservatoire after being awarded its Grand Prix for Singing. Later he was for 12 years Master of Music at St. Paul’s Church, Portman Square, London, but eventually gave up teaching for evangelism (see photograph on page 25.) The Gaming Report: HEN summaries of the Gaming Commission’s report were published recently in the-daily Press, they excited more comment and discussion throughout the Dominion than anything that had happened-since VJ-Day. At 8.20 p.m. on Monday, February 23, an attempt will ee |

be made by Station 2YA ‘to have the report discussed by four lawyers with a specialised knowledge of some of the main questions involved. Those taking part in the programme, which will be 2YA’s first "controversial" session this year, are J. R. Marshall, M.P., J. F. V. Stevenson, W. E. Leicester and C, EvansScott. Although we can’t pretend to know what line the discussion will take, we shall not be surprised if some receivers crackle with the heat. Alamein Programme ‘THE BBC programme They Fought at Alamein, which was broadcast from 2YA on January 23 to commemorate the entry of the first New Zealand troops into Tripoli, will be heard from 1YA at 9.43 p.m, on Wednesday, February

25. Field-Marshal Montgomery made special recordings of two of his most famous speeches for inclusion in this programme-one to his officers on his arrival at El Alamein, and the other on the eve of the battle. They contain some famous ‘"Montyisms" such as, "Rommel. . .-is definitely a nuisance. Therefore we will hit him a crack and finish with him." They Fought at Alamein recreates most vividly the events that led up to the battle and the course of the attack itself, and the script-writ-ers, Terence Tiller and Chester Wilmot, were able to draw on such sources as captured German documents and Ciano’s diary, as well as. our own official despatches and the reminiscences of MajorGeneral Guingand, "Monty’s" chief of staff. Parry Centenary REBRUARY 27 is the centenary of the birth of Hubert Parry, and on Sunday, February 29, at 9.32 p.m. 2YA will commemorate the event with a programme of some of his works, Parry’s musical career was very far removed from the traditional unappreciated-in-an-attic legend. He began to compose at eight and he had taken his Mus. Bac. at Oxford before he left Eton. As a friend and pupil of Edward Dannreuther, he had the advantage of hearing all his chamber music played promptly at Dannreuther’s largely-attended musicales in London. It was Dannreuther’s performance of his Piano Concerto in F Sharp Minor at the Crystal Palace which first drew widespead attention to his work. His Prometheus Unbound, and The Glories of Our Blood and State were performed at the Gloucester Festivals and the performance of his Blest Pair of Sirens by the Bach Choir finally established his reputation as a master of the art of choral writing. Blest Pair of Sirens is one of the works to be heard on Sunday.