WEEK'S RADIO Tralalero Singers

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30154, 11 June 1963, Page 9

WEEK'S RADIO Tralalero Singers

A frequent speaker in the 8.8. C. programme, “Talking About Music.” and one who can be relied on to produce something of outstanding interest is the folk music specialist, A. L. Lloyd. This month (YCs, 8 p.m., tomorrow) he introduces the tralalero singers of Genoa.

Ait one time tralalero flourished all over the countryside around Genoa, but now it is limited to the city itself—the reverse of the usual fate of folk music—where squads of singers can be heard rehearsing in the back rooms of cafes and wine shops throughout the winter months The harmonies are arrived at by trial and error and passed on by word of mouth. The tines are of a kind allowing for plenty of embellishment, and the counterpoint is generally an * extraordinary fivepart affair, sung by an alto, a tenor, a baritone, two or hree basses to lay down a solid drone, and a “guitar” ths<t is in fact a rfian’s voice imitating the instrument. A. L. Lloyd illustrates his talk with recordings made in Genoa. Another well-known broadcaster on music is Antony Hopkins, who talks about Johann Krebs, a littleknown pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach, and plays some of his music. Krebs (1713 1780) studded with Bach for nine years and is said to have been highly esteemed by the master.

The third speaker in the programme is Gerald Moore, one of the best known accompanists in the world and an untiring claimant of recognition for the impor‘ance of the accompanist's role. In the last 30 years Gerald Moore has played for practically every famous singer and many instrumentalists, as well as being probably the most frequently recorded artist in the history of the gramophone He considers that balance is the trickiest of all problems for an accompanist, and illustrates this point with a record of Schubert’s “Die Allmacht.” in which he accompanies Kirs.en Flagstad.

Thackeray Play

The play, “Dear Miss Prior" (national link, 3 pun., Sunday) has been adapted for the 8.8. C. by Mollie Greenhalgh from Thackeray’s short novel. “Lovel the Widower,” which in turn was originally a stage play. • When he launched the “Cornhill Magazine” in 1858, Thackeray needed a serial so he fell back upon the play, written five years earlier. But the resulting story did not satisfy him and he out the serial short after six instalments. Although it was popular with Victorian readers, the novel is hardly known today, but i* makes an amusing radio play with its echoes of the earlier “Vanity Fair.” Like Becky Sharp, the heroine. Elizabeth Prior, finds herself in the position of governess to a snobb'sh family. She is milder than Becky Sharp, but knows equally well how to look after herself.