RECITALS ON RECORD

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 786, 13 August 1954, Page 5

RECITALS ON RECORD

Sit-In Landfall for June this year ce Mason complains that Lilburn’s symphonies have been broadcast once only. This opens a question that should be discussed by, and before, all listen-ers-certainly all licence-holders. Why are the NZBS tape records of National Orchestra public concerts "for reference only"? ‘Why may not recitals-say, the excellent performance of Bloch’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, from 1YC-be rebroadcast matiy times? It would seem cheaper to pay royalties for rebroadcasts than to have the entire performance repeated-especially as no two performances are alike, and a.good one should be preserved and replayed. Like poetry, music needs not one, but several hearings. The poet whose work is printed can at least have it read many times. Composers and performers of music need as fair a means of publication as print--that is, the disc or tape récording. The next obvious step is that these should be available to the public. I suggest that certain conductors would gladly have had performances with the National Orchestra recorded by gramophone companies for sale, but that unwillingness on the part of the Musicians’ Union may have prevented this. Surely acceptable terms could be made with composers and musicians for recording and febroadcasting worthwhile items? In Amefica much of an orchestra’s fame and income comes from the sale of recordings. Where a company is willing to take the risk, it s@eins there is nothing to lose. : In New Zealand, listeners should be able to hear a work half a dozen times, particularly if it is one not available on a dis¢é; and they should perhaps be able to buy a record of notable works and perfotmatices of local composers and artists. If one can "request" Tchaikovski’s violin concerto (how many records of this have NZBS worn out?) one should also be able to ask for a repeat of Bloch’s sonata as played by Winifred Stiles and Betty Pierson, or the National Orchestra playing Lilburn’s symphonies.

F. A.

SANDALL

(Takapuna).

a correspondent opens his first question poh a which it is desirable to t. Mr. Bruce Mason did not say, nor is ik te true, that Lilburn’s symphonies have been riage ig 4d once only. The question is then Fon in a form that misrepresents the facts. National Orchestra is not recorded "for reference only," but for delayed broadcast. The second question is also put in a form that mistepresents the facts. Many studio recitals are repeated once, or up to seven times, or any number of times. For the answer to a suggestion that concerns the Musicians’ Union the proper source is the Musicians’ Union; but it may be said here that the Broadcasting Service has not stood in the way of any attempt to negotiate an arrangement with a recording company, has facilitated at least one, and is not responsible for its non-success.--Ed. )