THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 537, 7 October 1949, Page 26

THINGS TO COME

Sonata for Violin ALTHOUGH Isaac Stern’s tour under contract to the NZBS-in 1947 was his first in New Zealand, it was not the first time he had played before New Zealanders, for he met Dominion airmen when he toured the South. Pacific with his pianist, Alexander Zakin, to entertain American troops. He gave six public concerts here during a 10. days’ flying visit in 1947--two each in Auckland and Wellington and one each in Christchurch and Dunedin-and he had with him two violins, a Guarnerius and a Guadagnini, whose monetary value ran into five figures. Auckland listeners will remember Stern’s impressive playing of Brahms’s Sonata No. 3 in D Minor (Op. 108) at his second public concert. A recording of this work will be heard from 3YA at 9.30 p.m., on Monday, October 10, again with Zakin as accompanist. Auckland Composer = OMPLETED only a few weeks ago, a piano sonatina in A Major written by Tracy Moresby, of Auckland, is. to be given its ‘first public performance in a broadcast from 1YA. The sonatina is pastoral in character and consists of three short movements, Allegretto con moto, Andante and Vivace. The first and final movements are in sonata form with a contrasting second movement. It will be played by the composer. Tracy Moresby has already achieved a reputation for a felicitous lyrical gift and for otiginality of style. His other compositions include violin sonatas, a; ‘cello sonata and another piano sonatina as well as church music and a number of songs, some of which were the subject of very favourable comment by the English composer Michael Head. Listeners will hear Tracy Moresby’s Sonatina Pastorale in A Major from 1YA at 7.54 p.m. on Wednesday, October 12. Roving Radiologist HEN Nigel McDougall left for China in April of 1947 as the first of 24 New Zealand medical and technica] specialists to carry out relief work under the auspices of Corso, he faced a formidable assignment. His task as an

|X-ray ‘specialist was to assist the work of the International Relief Committee of China, the World Health Organisation. Unrra, the Chinese National Relief and Rephabilitation Administration, the Chin- | ese Ministry — of

| Health, and the various mission hospitals. This entailed many hundreds of miles of travelling and work in hospitals and clinics scattered through scores of cities, towns and villages, and it brought him into close contact with the people of China. Listeners will hear something of his experiences in X-raying the Dragon, two recorded interviews with Shirley Macnab of 1YA, the first of

which will be broadcast at 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 12, and the second at the same time on the following Wednesday. What About the Lords? F OCUS on the House of Lords, a BBC feature progfamme, poses some pertinent questions about a subject that is very much to the fore in Britain today. What, is to be done about the- Upper House? Has it outlasted its usefulness?

Has its prestige suffered because of the absenteeism of many of its members? Does it make up for this by the high -standard of its debates and the presence of so many men of distinction and culture? Similar

questions have recently been agitating the minds of some New Zealanders in relation to the Legislative Council, and a Bill on the subject was brought down in the House a short time ago by the Leader of the Opposition. This BBC programme may help listeners to find their own answers to these and many other questions connected with Parliamentary government these days. Focus on the House of Lords will be broadcast from 4YZ at 8.0 p.m. on Wednesday, October 12. . . . ° ai is So Good a "HE 16th Century English composer William Byrd states on the title page of his Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets that vocal music should be "framed to the life of the words." It is in this collection that he sets down his famous reasons "to ‘perswade every one to learne to sing." After enumerating several very quaint reasons, the recommendation ends with the delightfully naive lines: "Since singing is so good a thing I wish all men would learne_to sing"... The BBC has collected some of the works of Byrd, Thomas Morley and John Wilbye, including the famous "Summer is icumen in,’ and thé bracket was broadcast originally in its Third Programme by the New English Singers. This sextet which was founded by Cuthbert Kelly is made up of April Cantelo, Nellie Carson, Joyce Sutton, Harry Barnes, Roland Robson and Cecil Cope. Station 3YA will "broadcast the New English Singers in a recital ‘of unaccompanied singing at 8.29 p.m. on Friday, October 14, Happy Ghost GIR ARTHUR QUILLER-COUCH was _for,many years professor of English literature at Cambridge, but he was better known to the world at large for his books of adventure and short stories, published under the pseudonym’ "Q." He also wrote the conclusion of Robert Louis Stevenson’s unfinished St. Ives (chapters 31 to end) in 1899, a year after its posthumous, publication. One of "Q’s" early tales was A Pair of Hands,

a delightfulr story which he himself called am Old Maid’s ghost story. It

tells of a haunted house in Cornwall with a most lovable and happy ghost. Recently this story was turned into a radio play which Owen Reed produced in the BBC’s West of Eng; land studios with Gladys Young, leading lady of the BBC Rep--ertorvy Companv. as a

guest artist: Other parts are played by. Alvie Kessel and Bert Middleton, both of them well-known broadcasters. A Pair of Hands will be broadcast from 3YA at 7.30 p.m. on Saturday, October 15. Where the Kiwi om JK £EMEMBER Bari? The Tudor Wine Bar, the Petruzelli Theatre, the Opera House, the’ Orientale Hotel, and Musso’s Yacht Club, built out into the water in the form of a ship, with portholes for windows and dances twice a week-there’s hardly a former member of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. to whom those names won't bring back memories, for the New Zealand Advanced Base Camp in Italy was omly' 12 miles from Bari, and that town. was the mecca of every kiwi on leave, A series of programmes called In the Footsteps of ‘the Kiwis, designed to recall many Italian towns that were familiar to the troops, starts from 2YD on Sunday, October 16, at 8.0 pm. The programmes include recordings of songs and tunes that were popular with the kiwis in Italy, some of which have mot ‘previously been broadcast here. The first programme includes "O Papa," played by « Dino Olivieri and his orchestra, "Torna A Surriento," by the Cetra Quartet, "Ciriciribin," sung by Italia Vaniglio, and "The Train,’ played by the accordionists Kramer and Wolmer. Future programmes will deal with Florence, Rome, Venice, Trieste, ‘and other places,