THE WEEK’S RADIO Shackleton— Voice From The Past

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28792, 13 January 1959, Page 12

THE WEEK’S RADIO Shackleton— Voice From The Past

The 8.8. C. radio portrait of Sir Ernest Shackleton (3YC, 9.31 tonight) includes an extract from a gramophone record he made in 1910, speaking about the discovery of the North Pole. This is the only existing record of his voice. Listeners will also hear about Shackleton from men who were with him on the Quest when he died early one January morning in 1922, at Grytviken, South Georgia.

Others who will be heard are men who shared with him two years of . exile in the Weddell Sea ice during World War I after the loss of the Endurahce. And there are first-hand accounts of his great journey towards the South Pole in 1908-09, of his service under Scott on the Discovery at the beginning of the century, and of his apprenticeship in the merchant service in the 1890’s. “Shackleton: Explorer, Leader and Romantic,” was adapted for radio by Margery and James Fisher from their biography of Sir Ernest Shackleton. Economics

“The Pulse of Prosperity” (3YA, 10.15 tonight) is a United Nations Radio feature which reports on progress in achieving one of the aims of the United Nations Charter—to promote better standards of living. It is particularly concerned with organised economic aid and tells of the work of the United Nations technical assistance programme and the special projects fund. The voices of many statesmen and diplomats ere heard in the programme. Wednesday’s YC talk (7.30 p.m.) is by Brian Philpott, who will soon be taking up his appointment as professor of agricultural economics at Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln. The establishment of a New Zealand Economic Research Council was announced recently. Mr Philpott, who was formerly with the New Zealand Meat and Wool Board’s Economic Service, will speak about the need and scope for such research in this country. New Singers Since the war very few opera singers of the first rank have come forward. Two of the younger Italian singers, who have made jaded critics sit up, however, are to be heard at 10.30 a.m. on Sunday from the YA’s. They are Anita Cerquetti, (soprano) and Carlo Bergonzi (tenor). Anita Cerquetti came into the news when she replaced Maria Callas after one of her battles with the opera house managements. She will sing “Casta diva” from Bellini’s “Norma” and “O re di cieli” from Spontini’s “Agnes von Hohenstaufen.”, Carlos Bergonzi has been a considerable success at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with his beautiful robust voice and what is rarer, his artistry. He sings “Celeste Aida” and the “Improvviso” from Giordano’s “Andrea Chenier.” Rare Brahms

A programme of music by Brahms from 3YC at 7 p.m. on Thursday contains two of his most famous works—the Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 4—and one which, although highly spoken of, is not at all familiar. It is “Nanie,” a composition for chorus and orchestra, which is said by one of Brahms’s biographers to be one of the finest of the composer’s many choral works. French Play

The play, “Confidence Trick” (YC’s, 8 pm., Friday), by the eighteenth century French novelist and playwright, Pierre de Marivaux, is about an impoverished but handsome young gentleman who becomes the steward of a wealthy widow. His former servant, who is in the service of the widow, lays a cunning plan to make her fall in love with his former master. In spite of the disapproval of the widow's mother and other setbacks, the confidence trick is carried through with success and the young man’s fortune is made. Pierre de Marivaux (1688-1763) is best known for his novel, “The Life of Marianne.” “La Favorita” Donizetti’s opera, “La Favorita,” was once a great success but is now rarely performed. It is said that it never gained a hold in London or New York because the fashionable audiences would not tolerate an opera which did not have a soprano as its heroine—the heroine of “La Favorita” is a mezzo-soprano. But a more likely reason of the opera’s disappearance from the stage is that suitable singers can no longer be found. Not only are brilliant techniques needed to cope with the very difficult vocal writing, but the music calls for a much more spacious and elegant style of singing than that which has flourished in this century. The only portion of the opera which is at all well known is the tenor aria, “Spirto gentil,” although the third act is said to contain some of Donizetti’s finest music. A complete performance of “La Favorita” may be heard from 3YC at 8 p.m. on Sunday. The soloists are Giulietta Simionato (mezzosoprano), Gianni Poggi (tenor), Ettore Bastianini (baritone) and Jerome Hines (bass) and Alberto Erede conducts the Orchestra and t Chorus of the Florence May Festival.

Michelangeli Listeners will have a rare opportunity to hear one of the world’s greatest pianists at 2 p.m. on Sunday from the YA’s when Arturo Benedetti ’ Michelangeli will be heard with the Phil Harmonia Orchestra conducted by Ettore Cracis in Rachmaninov’s Fourth Piano Concerto. Michel, angeli rarely makes concert tours and he makes very few commercial recordings. This recording was made by the 8.8. C. It also includes Stravinsky's “Petrushka.” played by the Suisse Romande Orchestra conducted by Ernest Ansermet, who has been identified with Stravinsky’s music since its earliest days. Rimsky-Korsakov Rimsky-Korsakov is mostly known as the composer of bril-liantly-scored orchestral music and one or two operas. Actually he wrote 15 operas and a quantity of chamber music as well as the better-known symphonies and orchestral suites. One of his chamber compositions, the quintet for piano and wind instruments (flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon) may | be heard from 3YC at 7 p.m. on t Friday. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote | his chamber music after his appointment as professor of practical composition and instrumentation at the St. Petersbury Conservatory, when he was working furiously to acquire the knowledge of harmony, counterpoint and form which he was expected to pass on to his students.