Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 812, 18 February 1955, Page 28

Open Microphone

NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, , ON AND OFF THE RECORD

PIANIST FROM ADELAIDE

what I was going to do," Lance Dossor said in Wellington last week. The English pianist, who has been playing Rachmaninoff’'s. Second Concerto in Christchurch and Dunedin, and giving studio recitals as well, interrupted his practice in the Waring Taylor Street studios to talk about his career. "My father was a_ singer," he said, "and both my parents encouraged me. My the age of six I knew

family moved to London from Somerset in 1932, : and I went

with them to study at the Royal College of Music on a scholarship. I studied with Herbert Fryer, and in 1936 was awarded the Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians for being the most outstanding student during the previous three years. I won international prizes for piano playing at Vienna in 1936, at Warsaw in 1937 (the Chopin competition), and at Brussels in 1938 (the Ysaye competition). I have played with the leading orchestras of

England under the late Sir Henry Wood, Sir Adrian Boult, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir John Barbirolli, and in Europe under Galliera and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. I have also been soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Society in London." Mr. Dossor said that he won a commission in the Royal Artillery during the war, and served in the Middle East, Italy and Germany. "From 1942 onwards I was granted permission to give recitals to the troops. In the Middle East I met a lot of New Zealanders and played at their camp at Maadi, outside Cairo. Since the war I have been on the staff of the Royal College of Music in London, and have done concert work in England. In 1935 I joined the staff of Adelaide University in Australia, where I am chief teacher of pianoforte at the Elder Conservatorium." "James Robertson and I were colleagues at the Royal College of Music," Mr. Dossor said. "During the war I played under him in Naples with the San Carlo Opera Orchestra, in Bari with the Bari Symphony Orchestra, and in Rome with the Rome Radio Orchestra, all of which he conducted though still attached to the Royal Air Force. Since coming out to Australia I have played at the Brahms Festival in Sydney, at the Tchaikovski Festival in Perth, and at the Beethoven Festivals in Sydney and Melbourne." Lance Dossor is married and has two children. He was thoroughly enjoying his first visit to New Zealand, he said. The country reminded him of parts of Italy and Switzerland. +

FRIEND OF THE BIRDS

-_ A NYONE who has lived on the South Island’s West Coast for more than a year or two will tell you that sooner or later, in one way or another, it gets you. E. L. Kehoe-who calls himself .

Ehoa o te Manu, Friend of the Birdswent to the Coast as a teacher in 1923. In retirement now, he finds’ himself still there, an authority on its wild life

and its history. "From my first days here I took a keen interest in the

history of the place, its Maori legends and is forest lore, Mr. Kehoe says. When he turned to radio work his talks were naturally related to these interests. Since he first wen on the air in a children’s session in 193 he. has made well over 200 broadcasts, and he is still heard regularly from 3YZ every second Tuesday, in his session Forest, Bird, Maori and Pioneer. A keen advocate of the conservation of Westland’s forests, Mr. Kehoe can identify pretty well any bird or plant in the area, and he welcomes letters and inquiries which help provide topics for many of his talks.

ANA HATO

NE of the first Maori singers to make the music of her people known outside New Zealand was Ana Hato. Recordings of her singing traditional Maori songs were made as far back as 1927. "E.S.H.," of Lower Hutt, wants some details of Miss Hato, who died at Rotorua on December 9, 1953, aged 47. Miss Hato was a member of the Tuhourangi tribe, a sub-tribe of the Arawa, located at Whakarewarewa, her birthplace. When the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) «visited Rotorua in 1927, Maori singers assembled from all over —

New Zealand, and a series (Med recordings commemorating the Royal visit were made.

Among these were duets by Miss Hato and her cousin, the baritone | Dean Waretini. Miss Hato’s lovely soprano voice, although entirely untrained, made a strong impression, and a couple of years later, accompanied by Mr. Waretini and three other Maori singers calling themselves "The Tahiwis," she went to Sydney to make further recordings. Among Miss Hato’s records, either solo or with Mr. Waretini, are the lament "Hoki Hoki" "Te Arawa," "E Pari-Ra,"’ "Pokarekare,’ the canoe’ son "Hoea Ra," "Tahi Nei Taru Kino," th

love ditties "Te Taniwha" and "Matangi," "Home, Little Maori, Home," "Hine, E Hine!" "Po Atarau," and "Waiata Poi." Miss Hato’s married name was Mrs. Pahau Ratoni. Her husband died while a prisoner of war in Germany,

THE LYONS AT WORK

«VERY week when Life with the Lyons is running from the BBC (that is, for six months in the year) the Lyon family gather in a basement room (‘the madhouse," Ben calls it) to prepare their programme with scriptwriters Ronnie Hanbufy and Bob Block. "The little room is littered with mounds of papers, scribbled notes are pinned to the walls, and a large bookshelf contains

more..than a hundred volumes of carefully indexed gags-one of

the biggest gag libraries in Britain," said Lionel Simmons in a recent issue of Radio Times, Bebe is the leader of the group, and the working week begins when she gives the scriptwriters a story line for the next programme. This is divided into the eight or nine situations or domestic incidents which make up each programme

-with snatches of music in between. The scriptwriters take care of the actual’ script, with Bebe on hand to make suggestions or answer problems. Two days later a rough outline is ready to undergo a test which has now become a ritual. Bebe and the scriptwriters try out the "rough" on the friends and relations whose reactions to the various comedy situations are carefully noted, On the following day Bebe, Bob and Ronnie revise, cut and tighten the script, and then the rest of the familyBen, Barbara and Richard-get their first glimpse of it. Their suggestions are also incorporated, and the production begins with Tom Ronald, the producer, now taking a hand. By the time the show is recorded, the Lyons have rehearsed the script at least eight times. But thoroughness and hard work are not the only secrets of the success of this popular domestic comedy pro-gramme-(YA stations on Saturday nights). "We try to make the characters and the situations believable," explains Bebe. "They are only just a little larger than life."

GRADUS AD PARNASSUM

STUDIES, or études, if you want to "ameliorate the situation, are responsible for many stumbling "gradus ad Parnassum" on the part of unwilling

pianoforte students. But studies well played can give listeners as much enjoyment ‘as any other short pieces, as Hilde Cohn demonstrates in three broadcasts from 2YC. She begins at 7.30 p.m. on Sunday, February 20, with studies by the

18th-Century virtuosi Czerny, Cramer and Clementi. The Gradus ad Parnassum studies of Clementi have remained the foundation of all pianoforte tech-

nigue. Hilde Cohn’s second programme at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22, will com-

prise four studies by Moscheles, an illustrious pupil of Clementi’s,; and two by Heller, the Hungarian pianist and composer. In her final programme she will play two studies of Chopin composed for Moscheles, the Opus 10, No. 5, and the Opus 25, No. 2, followed by Liszt’s Concert Study Voices of the Wood. This programme will be heard at 7.42 p.m. on Thursday, February 24.