IN BRIEF

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 68, 17 September 1936, Page 28

IN BRIEF

NOTES FROM FAR AND NEAR

An Official Visit.

The new Director of Broadcasting (Professor James Shelley) will visit New Zealand's principal radio stations before taking up his duties in Wellington on, December 1. Pianist's Departure. Mr. Paul Vinojßradoff, the Russian pianist who has been a popular broadcaster in New Zealand for some years past, has left for Sydney by the Awatea. Mr. VinogradoflE will remain in Australia till the end of the year, when he will leave for England and the Continent. New Headquarters for A.B.C. The Australian Broadcasting Commission has decided to purchase a block of land in Forbes Street, Sydney, formerly known as Rose Hall, for its proposed new building. The site, which occupies one and three-quarter acres, was formerly owned by the Red Cross, and is one of the highest spots in Sydney. It cost £18,000. A Saxophone Recital. Saxophones imply "jazz" music and "swing" rhythm to some people—to those who have not heard Sigurd Rascher, a young man who believes that the saxophone has a place,other than its established place in dance bands. Listeners to Sunday's, Empire broadcast will hear the greatest modern player of "straight" saxophone music in, among other things, his own arrangement of a Bach sonata. On previous occasions he has perforrhed in promenade concerts and .broadcast recitals of classical and modern music. The saxophone is at least 90 years old, and is of .Belgian nationality. Adolphe Sax, its inventor, had great ambitions

for the child of his brain. It seemed to him that there was a gap between the woodwind and the brass, and so, in the 1840's, the* saxophone made its debut. French composers were attracted by the idea. Berlioz supported it, and the new instrument appeared in the scores of Meyerbeer, Thomas, Saint-Saens, Bizet, and D'lndy. Debussy wrote a rhapsody for it, and Bizet's L'Arlesienne contains a passage for a solo saxophone. In Germany, Strauss wrote for a quartet of saxophones in his "Domestic Symphony." Today, apart from its popularity in "jazz," its only extensive use is in military bands, especially in France. Those who listen to Sigurd Rascher will hear the saxophone's more ambitious notes. From St. Paul's Cathedral. The Bishop Suffragan of Kensington, Dr. B. F. Simpson, M.C., will conduct Sunday's Empire service from St. Paul's Cathedral. Dr. Simpson is one of the youngest Bishops, and he has been a busy worker in crowded areas during the greater part of his ministry. His war experiences gave him an intimate knowledge of what men are actually thinking about religion and the serious problems of life. A Street Entertainer. A 21-year-old entertainer whose work in the streets of London resulted in his "appearance" in that popular feature of the 8.8.C.'s programme, "In Town Tonight" has consolidated his association with broadcasting by writing the libretto, lyrics, and music of "Penny Coloured," a programme which may be heard from Daventry on Tuesday. John Keir Cross, the author of the programme, found himself stranded in Scotland almost without a penny. He decided to come to London. Ability as a ventriloquist enabled him to "busk" his way south, giving performances wherever he could get an audience, and particularly to theatre and cinema queues. Finally he arrived in London and became a regular street entertainer. Then he was given his chance to appear' in "In Town Tonight." Since then he has written a book, but "Penny Coloured" is his first attempt to write for broadcasting. The programme is a gentle satire based on the fortunes of a young man in London who is down to his last threepence, two-thirds of which he spends at a coffee-stall in the Euston Road. He strolls into an adjoining railway station, and, with his last penny, he buys a platform ticket. He jumps into a carriage of a train which is moving out and almost tumbles into the lap of a young lady who is associated in a secretarial capacity with the theatrical profession. Listeners should enjoy hearing the developments of this fortuitous meeting. Short-Wave Trails. ' Germany's new short-wave broadcasting! centre at Zeesen, near Berlin, has now been completed by the erection of eleven directional aerials. It was built especially for the requirements of overseas commentators at the Summer Olympic Games', but is now being used for the ordinary German short' wave'station activities. The broadcasting centre consists of two large transmitter houses and" twenty-one beam aerials. In future it will be possible for Germany to broadcast to six zones simultaneously on six different wavelengths. ■ ■ ;. ; A new experimental short-wave station is now operating at Prague, Czechoslovakia. No call letters have been announced.

The Broadcasting Corporation of Japan, Hibiya Park, Tokio, has begun a series of daily overseas programmes, with translations in English and other languages. ■•....