THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 503, 11 February 1949, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

| A Kun Through The Programmes

Islands of Britain ‘HE islands that circle the coasts of Britain are rich in history, legend, and beauty of scenery. Some are crowded with holiday-makers every summer; others are visited only by their devotees, but all have something special to offer the traveller. In the series of _ talks Islands of Britain, recorded by the | BBC Transcription Service, some of the more important and __ better-known islands are described by men and women who have personal ties with them. The first programnie, "The Isle"of Wight," will be heard from 2YA this Sunday,. February 13, at 3.15 p.m. In it Brian Vesey-Fitzgerald describes the island which lies off the approaches to Southampton and gives many a visitor to England his first close glimpse of the Old Country. Vesey-Fitzgerald describes the Island as "England in miniature," for within an area of 165 square miles it contains practically every type of scenery to be found in England itself; except mountains. Many old ways and old families are still deep-rooted in the Island, and there is one family, the Oglanders, that has lived at Nunwell Manor there without a break since 1100.

: Faure from 4YZ THE compositions of Gabriel Fauré | are very numerous. His songs are important, so is his opera Penelope, and his chamber music. For a long period in the later part of his life he was looked up to with veneration by almost the whole body of his juniors amongst French composers, very many of whom, including Ravel, Florent Schmitt, and -Roger-Ducasse, were his pupils. Threequarters of an hour of his music will be heard in recordings from 4YZ, starting at 2.15 p.m. on Tuesday, February 15. The items will be his Requiem (frequently performed in France), presented by the Disciples of ‘Massenet, with the Montreal Festivals Orchestra, conducted by Wilfred Pelletier, and. with oland Roy at the ergan; and his Ballade for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 19, played by Kathleen Long (piano) and the National ‘Symphony Orchestra conducted by Boyd Neel. Pennsylvania Dutch [N Pennsylvania there are still families conforming strictly to the original austere and puritanical codes of behaviour of their forefathers-the Amish (or Pennsylvania Dutch), Dunkers, Brinserites, United Christians, River Brethren, Yorkers, and Mennonites. They do not believe in swearing, in going to the law to settle their differences, or in war as an instrument of justice. Non-swear-ing, non-resistance and non-litigation was the three-fold rock on whi¢h these congregations took their stand in the beginning, and most of them still cling tg it to-day. The strictest of all are the Amish, who frown on churches as a vanity and worship im their barns and homes instead. Cars and electric light are much too wordly for them to use. They even fasten their coats with

hooks and eyes and their underclothing with little pins, because buttons are too worldly. Ten years ago a New Zealander, Dorothy White, who was then g student at an American university, met an Amish family. She will give listeners her impressions in six recorded talks called Pennsylvania Dutch, the first of which will be heard from 2YA at 10.25 a.m. on Tuesday, February 15, : BBC Thriller (CHRISTIANNA BRAND, who. wrote the thriller Sweet Death likes to lead her readers a long. way up the garden path. And, just when they have reached the end of the journey, and apparently seen all there is to be seen, she gently leads them back again. It is part of her technique to add new twists to a plot when everything appears to be neatly unravelled. Sweet Death has been produced for the BBC by Martyn C. Webster, and Belle Chrystal] heads a strong cast of the BBC Drama Repertory Company in this half-hour tale about a woman who fought a battle of wits with the police. A BBC Transcription Service recording of the play will be heard from 2XN Nelson at 9.31 p.m. on Wednesday, February 16.

First N.Z. Broadcast \V HEN she was in the United States a few years ago, the harpsichord player Yella Pessl spent some time at the Library of Congress in Washington on research into early music, and in the course of her work there she came across the hitherto unpublished manuscript of a sonata by Wilhelm Friedmann Bach. A close examination of the work convinced her that here was a most valuable addition to the original music for the viola, and in co-operation with some of the leading musical scholars of America she completed her edition of the sonata at New York in May, 1946. Subsequently she took part in the first presentation of the work in America, the viola-player being William © Primrose. Now the first New Zealand performance of the work is to be heard from 2YA on February 17, at 7.30 p.m., the plavers being Zillah and Ronald Castle. Wilhelm Friedmann, who was the eldest son of the great J. S. Bach, was himself an accomplished player on the viola and seems to have taken a special interest in it, since three of his most ingenious and brilliant compositions were written for this instrument. The Castles are of the opinion that the re-discovered sonata (in C Minor) is singularly interesting in that ‘it combines the highest traditions of his father’s style with his own individual leanings towards the newer Romantic period. The Composer and Society HE aartistic ego has suffered a seachange. In the past the artist has regarded (or has pretended to regard) popular appreciation as either beneath his notice or a reflection on his artistic integrity. Now the lofty contempt has gone and a more healthy-but not apparently a more humble-attitude has taken its place. The composer has be-: come belligerently aware that he is a

social being and that society has a duty to him. That should provide argument enough for a dozen Citizens’ Forums. The case for the composer is béding heard currently from 4YA on Thursdays at 2.1 p.m. in the programme The Composer Hits Back: Why Are These ComPositions Overlooked? The case for the defence is, we trust, being prepared. Victorian Statesmen N Sunday, February 20, 3XC Timaru will begin a series of six BBC talks on British Prime Ministers of the 19th Century. The subject of the first talk will be Lord John Russell, and the talk will be given by A. J. P. Taylor who is a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Tutor in Modern History, and formerly Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Manchester. The series deals less with the personal lives of the Prime Ministers than with their influence on foreign and domestic policy in the formative years of the Commonwealth and Empire. In case you've forgotten, Lord John Russell was Prime Minister from 1846-1852 and in 1865-6. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies when New Zealand became a British colony. Among other things, he passed the Reform Bill of 1832, championed all forms of civil and religious liberty and was one of those who fought for Catholic Emancipation at a time when it was an unpopular cause. He was also responsible for the institution\ of official inspectors in schools and founded the Society for Promoting the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The talk will be broadcast at 10.30 am. ~