PERSONALITIES ON THE AIR

Radio Record, 29 July 1938, Page 16

PERSONALITIES ON THE AIR

OW touring the Commonwealth for the Australian Broadcasting Commission is a young man with a mission. Sigurd Rascher dreams of the rehabilitation of the saxophone. As the world’s finest exponent of this much-misunder-stood and much-abused instru. ment, he has discovered in it a very close kinship to many other musical tools. At will he can make it resemble a bassoon, a piccolo, a banjo or a flute. A professor of the Danish Royal Conservatoire, Rascher is no mere "stuntist," but a serious musician with a profound faith in his medium. mt 3YA listeners will hear Sigurd Rascher on the saxophone on Saturday, August 6.

AWKWARDNESS INA PIANIST’S LIFE

Widely soughr us an accompanist, Mr, M. T, Dixon, studiv

" planist and acconi~ panist for 3YA has had considerable musical experience, despite his youth. Before joining 3YA five years ago, he toured New Zealand as accompanist to Adelaide van Stareren, dramatic mezzo, Other artists of overseas fame whom Mr, Dixon has accompanied include Peter Dawson, Stella Power,

Margherita Gelanda, Clem Williams, Chostiakoff, Sydney McEwan, Dorothy Heimrich and Dorothy Clark. Once when Peter Dawson was giving a talk from 3YA someone telephoned and begged for a song. The obliging Peter, though under contract to someone else, asked Mat what about it? There was

no music available, there had been uo rehearsal, but singer and accompanist presented an impromp'a item which delighted thousands. Another incident in Mr. Dixon’s musical career was more awkward A singer for whom he was playing at 8YA forgot her words. Unable to prompt in front of the microphones the pianist had to leave the piano, dash over to a music stand, place his thumb on the missing words, and dash back, Nobody noticed it. —

GENIUS FOR MONTH'S TRIAL

Not so. very long ago two sisters sat waiting in the studio of g great

Violinist: the elder had made such progress with her fiddle, that lessons ware sought from the famous teacher. But during the interview he happened to catch sight of the younger girl’s hands, wag struck by their extraordinary shape, and immediately said she, too, must learn the violin. He was so emphatie that it was agreed the elder sister should give the eight-year-old child One mionth’s lessons as an experiment. The experiment produced such remarkable results, that the services of a famous master were secured for the girl, The name of the young violinist was Yelly d’Aranyi, and the famous master was Jeno Hubay. Yelly d’Aranyi, a grand-niece of the late Joseph Joachim, will be herd from 1YA on Sunday afternoon, July’ 31.

THE VOICE OFA GUARNERIUS

How Kreisler came into possession of bis Guarneriug violin, dated 1737, was

ence toid by the violinist in the following words :-‘"One day as I entered the rooms of Mr. George Hart I heard a yoice, liquid, pure, penetrating which filled my soul with longing and made me determined to’ possess such a. treasure at any cost. There were difficulties in the way, as Mr. Hart (the London dealer) had already parted with it to a collector, and it was only after long and earnest persuasion, in which Mr,

Hart joined, that I was enabled to buy it for two thousand pounds." The case alone of this superb instrument is said to be worth £200. The famous violin will be heard during 2¥A’s Dinner Music Session on . Monday, August 1, when Fritz Kriesler will be associated with: his brother Hugo Kreisler, ’cellis§, = —

-CAN-SING . BUT CAN’T SINK

When the Welsh tenor, Parry Jones, was returning from America years ago

he sailed on the Lusitania-and was torpedoed. For more than six hours he was in the water, and when picked up by a trawler remarked feebly: "I may be able to sing, but I can’t sink." He was, as a matter of fact, seriously weakened by his experiences, and afterwards suffered a nervous breakdown. On regaining health he joined the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, and later was associated with Carl Rosa. Parry Jones, tenor, will be heard at 2YA on Tuesday, August 2.

QUEEN REGENT HO SLEW 50, 000

For Catharine da Medici, daughter of an Italian ‘banking house, who became

fjyueen Regent o© i ruuce; The Hrench throne held all the attraction of an ancient ‘family property of a parvenu. When; as a beautiful and bewitching girl of 14,-she entered the port of Marseilles te become the wife of the second son of the’King:of France, she had already made wp her mind that one day she would: become the most important person in ‘her adopted country. She lived:to become the chief instigator of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, and herself gave the signal for the slaugh-ter-that fateful tolling of the bell of St. Germain d’Auxerois. Her 6o0n, weak Charles IX, tried to stop the plan, but it was teo late, and in Paris and other centres over 50.000 Huguenots were slain. .Men of every country, ereed and age, have condemned the massacre and detested Catherine for her unserupulous ambition. "Catherine da Medici,’ a play by Jennifer Thomas, an Aucklander, will be performed at iYA on Monday,

IGNORED INDIANS OF THE SCHOOL BOOKS

The first poem that Henry Longfellow wrote. delebrated an Indian battle,

for he was deeply interested in the race. When he came to write "The Song of Hiawatha," the Indians of that great poem were not those of careful school studies. Their cruelty and squalor were blandly ignored by Longfellow; to "weave together their beautiful traditions was his genial task." His method here was cleverly selec: tive, and without difficulty he found the pictures, legendary beauty, and the glamour that he sought. At 4YA on Friday, August 5, Professor IT. D. Adams will read "The Peace Pipe" from Longfellow’s "Hiawatha."

INJURED ARM BROUGHT | HIM HOME

Eric Beli, wellknown Auckland pianist, recently returned home after

spending 18 months in Australia. Comparing. musical standards he believes that vocally Syduey music is better value, but in the instrumental section Auckland musicians are leaders, particularly in coneerted work by the striungs--this despite the fact that Sydney has every facility for fostering musie and boasts a fine Conservatorium. At stations 2FC and 2BL, Mr. Bell gave recitals of classical music, and a performance of his own composition,. Sonata in E Minor for Violin and Piano (with Mr. Lionel Lawson) was enthusiastically received. This will be heard again on September 7 from 1YA, when the players will be the composer and Vineent Aspey (violinist), to

whom the work was dedicated, Until January last, Mr. Bell was a regular performer from 2UH, Sydney, but 2 serious accident to his right forearm made a rest essential. So he returned to New Zealand, and has already become a popular figure at 1ZB. Such an excellent accompanist and versatile pianist should be a decided acquisition to the studio. He intends to settle in Auckland and has already begun teaching in pianoforte. Erie Bell is heard daily from 128, with Neddo, from 1.0 to 1.30 p.m.

MUSICIAN WITH NATURE. OF A POET

Born at Pressburg in 1877, Ernst von Dohnanyi is one of Hungary’s fore-

most musicians, and has won high distinction as a composer, pianist, and conductor. He was only twenty when he first made his appearance 4s a coneert pianist, stepping at once into the front rank of executants. He appear-

ed. in Wngland for the first time in the ‘following ‘year, when he played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G@ under Richter at Queen’s Hall. "Not only," says J. B. Trend, "is his technical accomplishment extraordinarily complete, but the breadth of his phrasing, his command of tone-gradation, and the exquisite beauty of his tone, are such as to satisfy the most exacting lover of classical and modern musi¢, | and in both an intensely poetical nature is revealed." Listeners to the 3YA dinner music ° "Session on Friday August 5 will hear Ernst von Dohnanyi, pianist.

A one NEW ZEALAND

The Royal Schools of Music of London were -wise..to ask Felix Swinstead to

examine for them in New. Zealand this year, for such personal | contacts ure a powerful to Dominion. students. ‘This London-born: composerpianist was trained at the Royal Academy of Music under F. Corder and_ T. Matthay, and now teaches and examines for his old college. A ‘list of hig pianoforte pieces makes refreshing ° reading. Outstanding features are the genuinely pianisti¢ layout, the absence of frills, the effective, though almost austere, "simplicity of its idiom, and; in most cases, the Suitability for small hands in the easier pieces. At 1YA on Friday, August 5, Felix Swinstead will present an ‘{Hustrated talk on the subject of "Mood in Music."

ITALIAN — AND SHAKESPEARE

The not-too-old Italian composer, Mario CastelnuovoTedesco, whe was

porn in Florence in 1895, is one of the few foreigners who. has written with perfect sympathy and knowledgé of Shakespeare in his songs.. Of his 160 songs, forty-nine are based on English texts, mostly Shakespearean. In them Castelnuovo-Tedesco brings into play’ all hig resources of. modern harmony and hig uncommon gifts as:‘a melodist. This composer also found inspiration for five splendid overtures in Shakespeare’s plays. In the relay by 3YA on Wednesday, August 4, of the Royal Ohristchureh Musical Society’s concert, Clive Hindle, baritone, will be heard im tavo Castel-nuovo-Tedesco songs.

AUCKLANDER: WINS | PRAISE AT LEIPZIG

When the gifted young Auckland pianist, Jack. Buckley, often heard

from 1YA, went abroad early last year to study he took lessons from some of England’s best authorities, and finally entered Leipzig Konservatorium, under Teichmuller. There he has made rapid progress, He was appointed musical critic and correspondent at the great Beyreuth Wagnerian Music. Festival for the American journal "Musical Courier." At an important students’ concert in Leipzig he played Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes from memory, and was congratulated even by Teichmuller himself. According te Teichmuller, young Buckley is a "born artist of the piano," with crystal, clearcut technique, a touch rich in variety of tone colour, and an independent and personal style. In a letter ‘to’ his father, Captain. George Buckley, wellknown Auckland band conductor, Jack says he-recently shifted to Berlin; where he is studying under one of the world’s most modern and _ successfnt piano virtuosos, Hansen.