THE WEEK’S RADIO A Close Look At Purcell

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30274, 29 October 1963, Page 8

THE WEEK’S RADIO A Close Look At Purcell

The treatment of a composer in depth by regular broadcasts of his music is not new for 3YC, but seldom has it given a composer such concentrated attention as Purcell receives this week. Every night there will be a broadcast of music by Purcell, including anthems, keyboard music, three-part sonatas and music for the stage.

Tonight’s programme, at 7 o’clock, introduces two an-thems—-Psalms 71 and 96 sung by the Saltire Singers, and Keyboard Suites Nos. 1-4 played on the harpsichord by Thurston Dart. Keyboard Suites Nos. 5,7, 8 and 11 will be heard at 8.16 tomorrow night, followed by five secular part-songs sung by the Saltire Singers. Thursday’s programme at 8 p.m. introduces Purcell’s music from the stage, with a march and two minuets for strings and continuo from the incidental music to D’Urfey’s comedy, “The Virtuous Wife,” the song, “What shall I do?” from "Die Prophetess, or The History of Dioclesian,” an adaptation from Beaumont and Fletcher; and four songs from “The Tempest.” The “Tempest" songs are particularly interesting. Purcell wrote his music for a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s play in 1695 (the year of his death), and it has been described as his most mature work for the theatre. The bass air, “Arise ye subterranean winds,” is sung by a devil in the masque at the end of act 2, and the other three songs come from the Masque of Neptune and Amphitrite, introduced by Prospero in Act 5. Thursday’s programme also includes a newly-discovered Sonata for Trumpet and Strings, the great Chacony in G played by the Philomusica of London •under Anthony Lewis, and the Sonatas of Three Parts, Nos. 1-4, played by two violins, bass viol and organ.

The next four Sonatas of Three Parts will be heard at 7 p.m. on Friday, in addition to some more songs from stage works—“ The Fairy Queen,” “The Indian Queen” and “Bonduca”—sung by Margaret Ritchie (soprano). The remaining four ThreePart Sonatas will be heard at 7 p.m. on Saturday, preceded by a suite of airs and dances from Purcell’s stage works arranged by Sir Arthur Bliss and played by the Sinfonia of London under the direction of the arranger. The Purcell week concludes with his opera, “Dido and Aeneas,” at 7 p.m. on Sunday. In this historic Mermaid Theatre production, Kirsten Flagstad

sings Dido and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf is Belinda. Hindemith Premiere One of the most important recent works of Paul Hindemith will have its first broadcast from 3YC at 7 p.m. on Thursday in a V.O.A recording of a concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Burgin. It is the “Harmonie der Welt” Symphony, which Hindemith wrote in 1952. It is a huge work of great complexity derived from Hindemith's opera of the same title, although the symphony was performed before the opera. The opera concerns the life of Johann Kepler, a 17th-century asstronomer and philosopher who attempted to relate the physical laws of the universe to the modes of music. He identified each planet with a note of the scale. The concept of the music of the spheres is an ancient one and Hindemith took the titles for the symphony’s three movements —"Musica Instrumentalis," “Musica Humana” and “Musica Mundana” —from a sixth-century Roman author who is himself believed to have been propounding ancient Greek theories. Pharoah’s Tomb In the late autumn of 1922, Lord Carnarvon and Mr Howard Carter made the richest and most dramatic archaeological discovery of modem times, when they found the almost intact tomb of the Pharoah Tutankhamun, who died more than 3300 years ago. The survival of this one royal tomb among more than 30 tombs of Pharoahs in the Valley of Kings—the unplundered sepulchre of the boy-king, still surrounded by the fabulous riches with which he had been buried—was dramatic enough. But there was drama too in the events which followed, for Carnarvon died shortly after the tomb was opened, and Carter’s task was beset with difficulties. However, because of the work of this brilliant Egyptologist and his devoted staff thousands of visitors to the Cairo Museum can now admire the unique treasures of the tomb—including the inner coffin of solid gold, so heavy that it took four men to lift it In a 8.8. C. programme, "The Tomb of Tutankhamun,” written by Leonard Cottrell, to be heard from the ZBs at 8.31 on Sunday, the story is told retold in the archaeologists’ own words and with the recorded voices of some of their colleagues. Fry's Henry 11 “Curtmantle” (3YC, 8 p.rn„ Friday) is Christopher Fry's first historical play, and it covers almost all the years of Henry Il’s reign, exploring his character, both as ruler and man, as well as the more often told story of his conflict with Thomas Becket, his Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury. The play was first produced early last year at the state opening of the Stadsschouwburg, Tilburg, the Netherlands, and later by the Stratford Company at the Aldwych Theatre, London. In a review of the Dutch production, commenting on the author’s treatment of Henry’s personality, “The Times” said: “In these contradictions lie a clue to his character . . . and from it is created a tragic conception that surpasses anything that has yet come from Mr Fry’s pern.” In Roy Hope’s N.Z.B.C. production, Antony Groser is heard as Henry 11, Dorothy McKegg as his Queen Eleanor, and Tim Eliott as Becket.