THE BROADCASTING BOARD

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20957, 11 September 1933, Page 7

THE BROADCASTING BOARD

TO THE EDXTOa OF THE PRESS. Sir, —The correspondence on this subject should be of service, as an indication of what the listening public think of the musical programmes provided by the Broadcasting Board. In that way it may help the board, which, it should be remembered, has a very difficult task in attempting to please such a wide public of diverse tastes. While I am in favour of giving as much classical music as possible, I realise that there are so many to whom classical music makes no appeal, and for them also—and they may be in the majority, alas!—the board must also provide. Still, I think that even for those the board might aim at raising the popular taste to appreciate more and more really good music and to place in their proper place the jazz music of the period. It would be delightful to have renderings by capable artists of some of the great operas, but if that were not easily done it should not be so difficult to let us hear some of the really great world singers. Ido not want to say.a word against the taste of others, but I do often grow too tired to listen to the silly sentimentalities of the music halls of long ago. or their perhaps sillier successors, the silly songs of today that are most favoured. It seems such a pity that with such an inexhaustible treasury open to us we should turn aside to choose the tawdry, trumnery, gew-gaws of Brummagem jewellerv.—Yours, etc.. BRUNA DI SOMMA. September 9, 1933.