Listening

Press, 11 August 1980, Page 15

Listening

Chopin contest Every five years in Warsaw a renowned piano contest is held, the Chopin International Piano Competition. Names that have gone on to world concert-hall status have emerged from this competition over the years and include such artists as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Fu Ts’ong, Tamas Vasary, Garrick Ohlsson, Peter Frankl, and Martha Argerich. The concert programme at 7 p.m. looks at the history and personalities surrounding the Warsaw Chopin competition in a series of six programmes. The first, tonight, examines the beginnings, the first competition of 1927.

Arden’s ‘Pearl’ The highly-esteemed English dramatist, John Arden, has in the play, “Pearl,” which he wrote specifically for radio, penned a drama of great power that makes inventive use of the medium. An historical play, set in 1640 just before the English Civil War, its prose has been described as having a “muscular and tangible” quality reminiscent of the Elizabethan dramatists. Concert programme, 8 p.m.

Protest songs Recording the narration for “Songs of Protest” Spike Milligan was greatly impressed with the sincerity of the protest songs and their ■singers, evident throughout the whole movement. This is what he said about the series: “The programmes are full of vital information . . .

and I’d advise people to listen to it. They should get their kids to listen to it as well.” He continues with this statement: “I should not have been paid for doing the job. I should have paid Charles Chilton, the producer, for the honour of appearing in it.” Wobblies, Hobos, and Bums”, the title of the ninth programme in this BBC series, can be heard on the National programme at 8 p.m.

Sinatra album Although Frank Sinatra has announced his retirement more than once, he keeps making comebacks. If his recording career is not as active as it once was, he has made up for this with his latest release — a threealbum package called “Trilogy”. On this collection of recordings he is accompanied by the orchestras of Billy May and Gordon Jenkins. Some of the material is new and some new versions of well-known songs he first recorded 20 or even 30 years ago. Ray Harris introduces Frank Sinatra’s “Trilogy” along with some 1939 Sinatra in “Change of Pace” on the National programme at 9.15 p.m.

Scarlatti Sixty sonatas by the younger Scarlatti are being presented in a series of eight programmes. The Scarlatti authority, Ralph Kirkpatrick, performs a selection from each of the main periods of Scarlatti’s mature harpsichord style. Concert programme, 9.52 p.m.