Broadcasting the Great Composers

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 5, 15 August 1930, Page 29

Broadcasting the Great Composers

ACH, says the "Nineteenth Century," in a detailed and interesting study of "wireless music," broadcasts better than almost any other composer. Jazz, too, keeps company With Bach in this suitability for broadcasting. The three qualities, this article goes on to suggest, which music must possess if it is to broadcast well, are clear melody, simple harmony, and a wellaccented rhythm; and these, of course, Bach’s music possesses in excelsis. It follows, therefore, that musie which depends, for its effect, on thick harmony and subtlety of colour, will not "come through" nearly as well; Strauss and Wagner, for instance, cut a poor figure, when it comes to broadcasting, in comparison with Bach. This conclusion is not without significance. Art to-day is all for, the objective way of looking at things, and what could be more objective than the music of Bach? Such romantics as Strauss and Wagner are, in the vanguard, already outmoded. Modern composers, who extol Bach beyond all other classical masters and look to him as their model, should be more than delighted, therefore, that Bach broadcasts so well; it is as a gift in their hands straight from the gods to find waiting for them a wide public familiarised with the music of their master and guide, . The conclusion is of interest, too, in connection with the endeavours that are being made to get young composers to write music expressly for broadcast purposes. Here, if the writers of this article are correct in their analysis, are the golden rules these composers must observe: Clarity of melody, simplicity of harmony, and boldness of rhythm, , :