THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 509, 25 March 1949, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

Rhumba Rhythms ISTENERS whose taste in dance " music favours the South American will be interested in the series of programmes being given from 1YA by Warwick Ransom and his Cuban Cavalleros. Ransem has made a special study of the ‘rhumba for a number of years. He has visited most of the countries where the ‘rhumba is thoroughly established and is well versed in the different styles of rhumba rhythm. His dance group, which is believed to be the first local rhumba band to broadcast from the station, will be heard at 9.43 p.m. this Thursday, March 24, at the same time on Thursday, March 31, and finally in this par‘ticular series of broadcasts the followe ‘ing Thursday evening, April 7. Germany To-day and To-morrow WHat is Germany like to-day and what is her future? These are the questions Ralph Sutton sets ‘out to Renaatss in two talks from 1YA which are being broadcast at 7.15 p.ni. this March 24, and next Thursday, March 31. They are based on Mr. Sutton’s impressions and experiences when he visited Germany during the course of a trip to Europe to attend the World Council of Churches at Amster- ‘dam. In his first talk he speaks about whet Germans are thinking to-day and notes their particular interest in the -Antipodes. In _his second talk he de--seribes war damage and refers to the sense of frustration and hopelessness of ‘millions’ of Germans. He finds it difficult to answer his latter question, but listeners will appreciate his statement of some of the problems and of his faith in the power of the Christian Church to help meet those problems. South American Way -;:-DMUNDO ROS, exponent of the Latin-American musical idiom, and now a "BBC Personality," was a highspirited youth, He exhausted a fond mother’s patience and was packed off to a South American military college for discipline. Here the college band was immediately the subject of his closest attention. He was given the only spare instrument-something like a huge euphonium-which was almost as big as he was. Struggling with this massive affair proved too much for the youngster’s health, so he went on to the drums. Later he took up musical study at the Royal Academy, London, and eventually had his own band. For some time he has been playing at the Bagatelle, one of London’s smartest restaurants, and at the Astor Night Club, and ° also broadcasting regularly in the BBC Overseas, Home, and Latin-American programmes. The swarthy and strong (but not silent) Edmundo will be featured in the For My Lady session from (2YA, at 10.40 am. on Saturday, | April a of Scotland T’S not easy for miners on shift work "to get together for band rehearsals, "bait the miners of Bowhill, a _ village in the Fifeshire collieries, are such enthusiasts for pipe music that they have.

made the Bowhill Colliery Pipe Band one of the foremost in Scotland. In 1947 they won a first prize in the competition held by the Scottish Pipe Band Association during the International Music Festival at Edinburgh, and they are now featured in the first programme of the new BBC series Pipes of Scotland, which starts from 3XC Timaru at 7.45 p.m. on Sunday, April 3. They play a selection of Scottish marches and dances, including "Dovecot Park," one of the victory marches played by the Massed Pipes and Drums of the 31st Highland Division during the V-day celebrations

in London. Future programmes in this series, which no lover of pipe music should miss,°include a solo recital by the world-famous Pipe-Major William Ross, of Edinburgh, numbers by the Glasgow Police Pipe Band, the Clan MacRae Society Pipe Band, the Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band, and solo recitals by Pipe-Major John MacDonald, from the island of South Uist. Story of Russian Music : BeOLD prophets in Beethoven’s time had been heard to say that a great musical future was in store for Russia, but the fulfilment of the prophecy was long delayed. Although Anton Rubinstein had said that Glinka was the equal or supsrior of Haydn and Mozart, he had expressed an opinion that could only have occurred to a Russian, and then only asa patriotic paradox. The first composer to make a genuinely Russian music recognised over the whole civilised world was Tchaikovski, and by 1860 a group known as "the Five" had arisen, which, following Glinka’s lead, aimed at fostering a distinctive national spirit in their music. Borodin was one of the most distinguished members of "the Five," 4nd with the others-Bala-kirev, Cui, Moussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov-he laid the foundations on which modern composers like Prokofieff and Shostakovich have established Rus--sia as one of- the leading musical ‘nations in the world. Listeners interested in the rise of Russian music should tune in to 2YA at 9.30 p.m. on Thursday, March 31, when the first of a series of programmes will be broadcast under the title Seventy Years of Russian Music. Confidence Man NOT very attractive young lady, who spends her time looking after an invalid aunt, meets a handsome South African who is stationed in England during the war. She and her relatives are swept off their feet by his

dashing manners, his stories of a family fortune in diamonds, and the account of his heroic deeds at Dunkirk and Tobruk. As if in a dream she becomes: engaged to him, and when he explains that he is a little short of cash (because there has been a hold-up in his army pay and it takes a while to cable out to South Africa) she lends him money to pay his mess bills. When, it turns out that her fiancé is nothing but a _ plausible +ogue, and he’makes off with all the family jewels, their car, her engagement ring, and even her fur coat, the young lady does-well, not exactly what is expected, for this NZBS play has an unexpected ending, as anyone can discover who tunes in to 1YA at 8.0 p.m. on Sunday, April 3. Its title is Make Mine Hemlock. Musical Soldier MAN who enlisted in the army so that he could pursue a musical career might be considered a little crazy these days, but apparently army life in the early 19th Century was different from what it is now, for Gaetano Donizetti did just that thing. Donizetti was born in Italy in 1797, and legend has it that in order to escape parental opposition to his musical career, he enlisted in the Austrian army and began to compose in his leisure time, completing his first opera, Enrico di Borgogna, at Vienna. in 1818. The success of his fourth opera four years later caused his release from military service, and he then composed many operas for Italian theatres. He wrote very rapidly, composing one operetta in nine days, and his early work was much influenced by Rossini However, most of his operas are litt'e played these days, except for the ever popular Lucia di Lammermoor, which i: based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel, an’ the comic opera Don Pasqualé, Listene:: to 3YA will hear a recorded version o! Lucia di Lammermoor at 8.5 p.m. on Sunday, April 3.