THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 497, 31 December 1948, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

Bantock and Coleridge-Taylor A PROGRAMME in which the BBC Symphony Orchestra is conducted by George Weldon will be heard from 3YA on Wednesday evening, January 5. It | Consists of two British works, Granville | Bantock’s comedy overture Pierrot of _ the Minute, and a symphonic dance by Coleridge-Tay lor. Bantock wrote Pierrot | of the Minute when he was musical | director at New Brighton (England), a post which he held with distinction be- | 1897 and 1901. The comedy | Qverture is often considered his most successful orchestral work from the point of view of its charm and freshness. Bamboula, the Coleridge-Taylor work, throws an interesting light on the composer’s racial mixture. (His father was a doctor of medicine from Sierra Leone and his mother was English.) It is a primitive Negro dance found in both West Africa and the West Indies, and Coleridge-Taylor has set its melodies in thapsodic form with all the technical accomplishment of the Western musician, Listening time for this programme is 7.30 p.m. é

‘TELLERS of salty tales have @ fandness for plots woven round the un- | holy combination of grasping ship’s cep- | tain and greedy cook who, to enhance | their own bank balances, keep the crew }on short rations and sell them costly | fare from the lazarette. Two somewhat |similar characters appear in | Hunger | Strike, which, written by a New Zealand author, H. McNeish, was a prize- | winner in the NZBS playwriting com- | petition in 1946. In this story, which | conicerns a troopship, the men, by way | of protest, stage a hunger strike, bring_ing with it all manner of queer com- | plications. In the end the men come "out handsomely, but just how they achieve results we will leave listeners to find out from 3YA at 8.0 p.m. on Thursday, January 6, when Hunger Strike (an NZBS production) will be presented. | Comedy of the Sea

Orpheus in Auckland FFENBACH’S famous operetta ) Orpheus in the Underworld has been _described as a masterpiece of frivolity. It conjures up all the sparkle of the gay life of Paris in the days of Napoleon III. An adaptation for broadcasting by Geoffrey Dunn, which has been recorded by the BBC Transcription Service, contains a strong cast of singers and actors, and accompaniment is by the BBC Theatre Orchestra. Walter Goehr, the conductor, was appointed to the orchestra in the autumn of 1946. In addition to a vast amount of conducting, he has written much incidental music for radio and films, including the scores for The Harbour Called Mulberry, and Radar, and an important film commission was the music for Great Expectations. The operetta will be heard from 1YA at 7.45 p.m. on Friday, January 7. The Garden of Fand RECORDINGS of Sir Arnold Bax’s tone-poem The Garden of Fand, made under the auspices of the British Council, have arrived here and will be broadcast from 2YA this Friday, December , 31, at 7.30 p.m. The Garden of Fand is

the sea, and the ancient saga called The Sick-bed of Cuchulain tells how that hero was lured away from the world of deeds and battles by the Lady Fand, daughter of Manannan, lord of the ocean, and how in time of his country’s direst need he forgot all but the enchantments of an immortal woman. In the earlier

parts of the work the composer tries to create the atmosphere of an enchanted Atlantic completely calm beneath the spell of the "Outer World." Upon its surface floats a little boat which is tossed on to the shore of Fand’s miraculous island. After dancing, feasting, and Fand’s singing of her song of immortal love, the sea rises suddenly and overwhelms the whole island. The immortals are saved but the mortals are lost beneath the waves.

Our Bible ‘THE apple of our eye, instead of gnashing the teeth, gave «a soft answer, and, although it was a,word in season about the root of all evil, it was no fly in the ointment and resulted in us seeing eye to eye and setting the house in order so that now, as a labour of love, we spare the rod, and grind the swords into ploughshares. We also mix our metaphors in a sentence of 11 clichés-which most people will realise. But how many can identify them as having their origin in the Bible? They are some of a number of overworked phrases quoted by J. Isaacs, until recently professor of English at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, in a BBC Third Programme talk The Bible in English Life and Letters. By this and by other interesting illustrations Professor Isaacs shows how much the Bible is a part of our British inheri‘tance. The talk will be heard from 1YA on Sunday, January 9, at 2.15 p.m. "Old New Zealand" SOME of the most entertaining reading in our early literature is contained in F. E. Maning’s classic Old New Zealand. Born in Dublin, Maning came to Hokianga in 1833 and married a sister of the Rarawa chief Hauraki, who sold him 200 acres of land at Qnoke. He had an expert knowledge of the Maori tongue, was present at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and later became a judge of the Native Land Court. He was also a skilful boxer and wrestler. Six dramatized readings from Maning’s book have been prepared by Frank Simpson (in conjunction with the Talks Department of the NZBS) in which several of the most interesting episodes, interspersed with linking narrative, music, and appropriate background effects, are read by a narrator representing the author himself. In this form Old New Zealand starts from 2YA at 4.30 p.m. on Sunday, January 9.