The Radio Eisteddfod

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 26, 11 January 1929, Page 7

The Radio Eisteddfod

Effort by NSW.BC. BELEVIN G that there was a large field of latent talent yet to be drawn upon for broadcasting purposes, the directors of the New South Wales Broadcasting, Limited, decided to hold an Histeddfod during the months of October, November, and December. Applications were invited for entries, and altogether nearly 1500 were received. In the choral section they numbered 30, vocal 774, instrumental 140, bands and band instruments 44, elocutionary section 104, popular: and humorous 77, juvenile section 167, Australian compositions 75; country entries in all sections 74: ‘'S these. entries reached such large ‘numbers, it was felt necessary to establish a series of elimination tests with a view of allowing only the performers who showed some considerable merit to go before the final adjudicator. This was then carried out, and when the semi-final round had been reached ‘in each section, Mr. Gerald Peachall, the well-known English musician, who has recently been appointed conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Society, commenced his duty of adjudieating in the choral, vocal, and instrumental sections. Interviewed at the close of his work, Mr. Peachall said: "T was pleasantly surprised with the general standard of work shown by the competitors who | came before me. In some actions it was a fairly difficult matter to finally allot the first place. Naturally, a good many of the performers are not yet up to the standard required for broadcasting; but to those I would say that by application and perseverance they may yet be successful. In the vocal sections I heard some beautiful voices, but the outstanding weakness right through was interpretation. To have a beautiful voice is one thing, but to be able to interpret a song is quite another matter, and until these young singers make a greater study of what the composer and song-writer mean to convey through their work, they cannot expect to rank as high-class performers. The same lack of study also made itself apparent in much of the instrumental work." From a general point of view the Histeddfod has been a sticcess, as quite a. considerable. amount. of acceptable talent has been unearthed. Unfortunately, however. the sections in broadcasting which needed the greatest amount : of recruiting-comedy, revues, sketches and humorous items-have not been helped to the degree that was_antici- pated.