Easter Programmes at all Stations

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 37, 30 March 1928, Page 5

Easter Programmes at all Stations

Special Passion Music for Good Friday

Easter will be observed by the Broadcasting Company with due reverence to the epoch marking cccasion. ; At all stations on Good Friday evening the broadcasts will be in accord with the religious celebrations. On Sunday the church services will, of course, be in keeping with the meaning of Easter, and the concerts which will afterwards be broadcast from the stations will be sacred in character. Worthy of note, too, will be the Thursday evening studio concert at 3YA. This will be pnovided by the Madame Gower Burns Grand Opera Quartet, who will sing gems of sacred music from oratorios and other works by some of the masters.

GOOD FRIDAY AT I1YA. Commencing this evening’s programme will be a relay of a specjal Passion music service from St. Mary’s Cathedral, the preacher being the Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Vicar of St, Mark’s Church. Mr. Edgar Randall is the organist. Following the church service a special Easter concert has been arranged. Madame Mary Towsey’s Quartet, comprising Miss Gwenyth Evans, Madame Mary Towsey, Mr. Reginald Newbury and Mr. John Bree, will render a number of oratorio quartets, trios and solos, including "Cast Thy Burden," "Lift Thine Eyes’ and "Crucifix." An outstanding item will be Madame Mary Towsey’s renderfing of "Agnus Dei," with a violin obligato by Miss Ina Bosworth, Mr. J. F. Montague will contribute several appropriate elocutionary numbers including "The Master Builder" and "The True Elysian Fields." Instrumental items will be played by the Bosworth-Hemus-Tow-sey Trio. STAINER’S CRUCIFIXION AT : 2YA, At 7.30 on Good Friday, 2YA will broadcast Stainer’s sacred cantata "The Crucifixion," on relay from St. Thomas’ Anglican Church, Newtown. The vicar is the Rev. C. V. Rooke, M.A., and Mr. W. H. Collie, L.L.C.M., is organist and choirmaster. The soloists will be Messrs. Church, Dunn and Sampson, ‘and items will be given by a quartette consisting of Misses Foss, Messrs. Handcock and Williams. "The Crucifixion" is ome of Stainer’s best known works ‘and Eastertide would seem incomplete without a rendering of it. St. Thomas’ is one of the tcity churches possessing a magnifi‘cent organ and a very fine choir, the work of which is well knowm to listeners-in. ‘A studio sacred concert will follow. One of the vocalists will be Miss Jessie King, well known as a member of the Madame Gower-Burns Quartet at 3YA. Solos, duets and quar. tets will be sung by the members of the Apollo Quartet. These popular singers will be heard in numbers appropriate to the sacred season. Together they will sing the quartet, "O, Thou Whose Sweet Com-

passion" (from J. H. Maunder’s beautiful Easter music, "Olivet to Calvary’), and ‘‘Good-bye," a very sweet, but sad, work by A. Wheeler. Messrs. Robbins and Rodger will be heard in the duet, "Now We Are Ambassadors," from Mendelssohn’s "St. Paul." Miss Chudley will sing, "He Shall Feed His Flock," from Handel’s "Messiah." Mr. Rodger has chosen "Easter Flowers,’ a very dainty piece of music by W. Sanderson, and "Just As I Am," a number that is at once majestic and dramatic. M.:. Robbins will contribute two solos from "Olivet to Calvary’’-"Like a Fair Vision," and "Not of This World." Mr. Gordon Short will play the first movement from the Sonata, Op.

31, No. 8, by Beethoven. This sonata is one of the favourite ones amongst all recitalists, and the simplicity of utterance and the strong rhythmical contrasts and lovely melodies make it exceedingly popular with concert audiences. The first movement is full of freshness of spirit, with a captivating mood of burlesque. Lovers of Brahm’s depth of musical thought will be pleased to learn that Miss Ava Symons, and Mr. Gordon Short will play part of his Sonata in D minor, a product of his most mature period, and a work of surpassing beauty and nobility. The slow movement of this sonata is amongst the most appealing of all his works for chamber music. It is a movement to be listened to with a

deep consciousness of the power of music to transcend words in expressing the depth of human feeling. The numbers chosen by the Etude Quartet are in the main part particularly suitable to the great Easter festival. Miss Gretta Stark will sing, "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth," from "The Messiah," by Handel; "Abide With Me" will be sung by Miss Rita Arnold, and a quartet, "Lift Your Glad Hearts," will be the opening number. Mr. Ray Kemp will sing "Fear Not Ye, O Israel." From "The Legend of Nerbudda," by Hubert Bath, will be sung a duet for contralto and tenor, "He Has Called," finishing with a delightful quartet.

GOOD FRIDAY AT 3YA. On Good Friday morning at il o’clock 3YA will broadcast a special church service which is to take place in Durham Street Methodist Church, It will be of an undenominational nature. At 7 o’clock the evening pro« gramme will commence with the re« lay of a service in St. John’s (Church of Engisnd), where the preacher ‘will be the Rev. J. F. Coursey. At 8.15 an after-church concert will be broadcast from the studio. The singers will be Miss Conn and Miss M. Lorimer, Mr. A. G. Thompson and Mr. T. G. Rogers, who will render solos, -duets and quartets, Some of the choicest sacred compositions will be sung. An instrumental trio composed of Mr. Laurian Beck, Miss Nellie Ellwood and Miss Aileen Warren will play concerted as well as solo items. A new rendering of the well- | known "There is a Green Hill Far Away" will be sung by Mr, T. G. Rogers on Friday evening. The setting is by a Welsh composer, ami is very popular in Wales. SACRED CONCERT ON THURSDAY AT 3YA. Appropriate to Easter will be the programme at 3YA on Thursday. The contributing artists will be the Madame-Gower-Burns Grand Opera Quartet, Miss Naare Hooper, L.T.C.L. (elocutioniste), Miss Thelma Cusack (violin), Miss Marjorie Smith (’cello), and Miss Aileen Warren (piano). A’ rare treat will be provided for listeners. The items will include excerpts from oratorio such as "Elijah," "St. Paul," ‘Messiah’ and -"Judas Maccabaeus." These will take the form of solos, duets and quartets. GOOD FRIDAY AT 4YA, At Dunedin on Friday evening the Anglican Church is holding a special Easter service in St. Paul’s Cathedral, and this will be broadcast by 4YA. dhe preacher will be the Rev. Canon evill. A sacred concert will follow in tha studio. Miss Flora Williamson’s contralto solos will include "He Was Despised," "‘The Legend," and "O, Rest in the Lord." One of Mr. Neil Black’s solos will be "Open the Gates of the Temple." An address, "A Visit to the Holy Land" will be given by the Rev. | Peter B. Fraser.