Stars and Starlets
O one can say that the NZBS has not done much to assist local musical talent. They have, for example, multiplied stations up and down the country until they number, by my count, 26, and all with programmes clamouring to be filled. The gramophone record and the overseas programme do most to satisfy this gréedy appetite, but the local artist plays a not-inconsiderable part, particularly in the evening programmes. To my mind, though, our local artists could be better used. We are too wedded to a recital technique, taken over, no doubt, from the Concert Hall. A recital is all very well when we have a visit from a Solomon or an Aleksandr Helmann, but it is a different matter when J. Smith, of Puketitiri, takes the air to give us his latest version of the Drum Polonaise. The most conscientious of our local artists know their own limitations, and instead of being thrust for-
ward as stars or starlets, they would | surely welcome a policy which would more often subordinate their contributions to the programme as a whole. In a programme of 18th Century music, for example, there are at least some local artists who could relieve the strain on Isobel Baillie for songs by Handel or Boyce and, what is more important, sing us songs that are not recorded. In music, as in films, the "star" system is a mixed blessing. I
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 540, 28 October 1949, Page 11
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237Stars and Starlets New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 540, 28 October 1949, Page 11
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