Wants New Board to Give Brighter Fare

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 42, 26 April 1935, Page 50

Wants New Board to Give Brighter Fare

To the Editor Sir Some time back you took a yote of listeners through the columns of your paper on what kind of musical entertainment they favoured over the air. Well, as far as I cam remember, crooning, classical music, and grand opera, were away down the bottom of the list with very few votes. But still the Broadcasting Board continues to bore us with this sort of stuff. You will be listening in to a really good programme and all of a sudden they will switch over to classical music, which, I am quite positive, 90 per dent. of the people abhor, and, besides, it takes the announcer as long teliing you about the thing as it takes for the item. What the object is I don’t know. I was talking to a _ highly-trained musician the other day, and I inquired his opinion on this high-class singing and music over the air. He told me he loved good music, and when it is convenient for him to attend he never misses a recital by any of the prominent overseas artists who visit us. "But," he says, "that class of music, canned and put over the air, I hate and abhor-in fact, I can’t sit down and listen to it. It loses all the tone and expression." He says there is only one way to appreciate that kind of music, and that is to go and hear and see the’ artists first hand. He says if the object is to try and educate the people to appreciate this class of music he is afraid it will do the cause a lot more harm than good. Mr, Ernest Newman, the "Sunday Times" critic, in referring to the oldtime seventeenth and eighteenth century music, such as Bach and Handel manuscripts, says they were good for the period. Essentially it is second-rate stuff which is inflicted on our audiences. He says, take for example the overture to "Acis and Galatea," anyone with the least bit of music in him, and the least knowledge of the period, could produce this sort of thing any morning with the hand he.did not require for shaving. The pattern is to be met with thousands of times in the Bach-Handel period-a pompous opening gesture, followed by a few bars of bustling semi-quavers over some sequential harmonies-the gestures again and'so ad infinitum. Sir’ Thomas Beecham, at an Authors’ Club. dinner, talking about grand opera says that not one word in 'ten.can be heard in, the singing of an’ opera. He says that this is a very serious

matter, and it should be stopped. I am just quoting these two crities to show that if they ¢an’t. appreciate: it, how ean ordinary people with no musi training appreciate it? Here in Auckland we get really. gous bright records from the main station in the day-time and at night-time, . when everybody is home, we get this "highclass" stuff, coupled with old dry talks on, some person’s pet hobby. I quite under-

stand that it is a hard job to please everyone, and it is easy to talk without offering a suggestion. Well I would suggest increasing the power of 1YX and reserve this station for programmes that they think the people will enjoy-you quite understand, a large number of us have our trials and tribulations these troublesome times-and what we want is something to make us brighter, if it is only for an hour or so of an evening, I would suggest musical- comedy, comic opera, old-time musie and singing, and any local talent that would offer their services to try and amuse the listeners. I would also suggest increasing the’ hours till 10.20 p.m, This is only a suggestion:for a trial, as I know the Board are out to:try and please the people if they possibly can. I am positively sure that if the suggestions could be adopted it would please at least ninety per cent. of the listeners, and we would not be continually hearing ‘ the Government stations harshly. eriti-* s, )

cised.

MODERN MUSIC

Auckland,