ON THE AIR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26233, 17 August 1946, Page 3

ON THE AIR

BROADCASTING REVIEW

By Coda

The N.B.S. deserves every credit for its attempt to encourage local performers by engaging them for broadcasting work. Standards of appreciation have, however, risen so highly through the chance given to listeners of hearing the best the arts can offer that the mediocre fails to satisfy. High standards must be kept up. The N.B.S. does no service to listeners or unsuitable performers by encouraging poor presentations, and it is no excuse for bad work that the performers are local.

Singers in particular invite comment as they are heard most frequently. Dunedin is fortunate in having some exceptionally fine artists who broadcast at times from 4YA’s studio. A proportion of local singers featured by 4YA are, however, so poor that they should never have been given the chance to inflict themselves on the listening public. The methods by which artists are selected for engagements appear to be faulty, and the N.B.S.'s failure to appoint competent musical advisers to local stations is at the root of the trouble.

Many singers, however, show promise, and their recitals would be improved if only the choice of presentations were at times somewhat better, even though a definite improvement has been noticeable of late. On inquiry, I have learned that local singers seeking an engagement by 4YA must submit a list of songs from which 4YA selects specific items. In rare instances, permission to broadcast a song-cycle may be sought and granted, and the latter procedure is undoubtedly the only satisfactory one, as 4YA does not appear to rely on competent musical advice when arranging a recital, and it should therefore be left to singers to make their own choice. Very few of our local artists can compete with recorded songs, though a few are good enough to attempt it. Nevertheless, when recordings by competent artists are available, local singers would be ill-advised to try improving on them. As the difference between a recorded and a “ live ” recital can generally only be detected by the difference in quality, what can be done to make “live” performances distinctive and more attractive? Overseas networks often insist on the artist announcing his items during the recital. Our N.B.S. follows this practice when famous overseas singers broadcast from one of our studios. A singer announcing his own songs will establish a real contact with the audience, and the recital therefore gains in value. The N.B.S. might well make it a practice to let local singers tell listeners the names of their presentations and, perhaps, something about the songs as well, as was done so charmingly by Dorothy Helmrich during her recent tour in this country. “Live” recitals would then be better able to hold their own against recorded presentations by establishing an artistlistener contact which can never be achieved by the broadcasting of recordings. “ Something old, something new . . .” A light programme from 4YA in the evening takes up the time between 7.30 to 9, and that is all one can say about it with the exception of a recital by Valda McCracken at 8.42, which should be quite excellent, and possibly another recital by Arthur Robertson at 8.25. The rest of this programme is simply thrown together with the sole object of filling in the time. A new departure for Saturday evenings can be heard at 7.45 from 2YA, when a play based on a Susan Ertz short story will be broadcast. This is a welcome innovation. 4YO’s programme from 9 o'clock on looks exceptionally pleasing on first sight, with a whole hour of Mozart compositions between 9-10. However, I have had too many occasions to complain in the past-about the broadcasting of ancient recordings while better and more recent ones are available, and to-night we find another instance. The chief work of the evening, the incredibly beautiful “ Sinfonie Concertante ” for violin, viola, and orchestra, was brilliantly recorded some two years ago by Spalding and Primrose. There is no excuse whatever for broadcasting a poor recording when a much better one has been obtainable for some time.

“ Silence augmenteth grief . . The furtive practice of concealing 4YA’s Sunday morning programmes behind quite meaningless titles has now been slightly modified, and we know at least that at 10 o’clock tomorrow Russian music can be heard. If just one more line were given to this presentation in the official timetable, listeners would also know in advance what composers are going to be featured. 3YA and 4YZ, of course, give several times as much space to a more detailed morning time table, but that must be regarded as pampering the employers of the N.B.S. 4ZD at 11—not 11.30 —broadcasts an hour’s music by Debussy and Ravel. If 4YZ, Invercargill, can be received satisfactorily in the morning, then a delightful burlesque at 10.20 is well worth while listening to.

Contemporary French compositions at 2.30 from 4YA appear interesting. As an alternative, I would suggest Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Mikado,” from 4YZ at 2.30—a whole hour and a-half of it, so it cannot have been condensed quite out of recognition. A Dickens sketch at 3.57 from 4YA is worth notice. 4YA’s evening programme features some real gems. Alison Tyrie will sing three exceptionally fine songs at 8.9, followed by a piano recital by Jessie Jones and Jessie Flamank. The Reinecke composition on the programme will be as unknown as its composer, one of the greatest Mozart exponents of the last generation. His treatise on Mozart’s piano concertos will be known to all Mozart lovers, and, by chance or by design, 4YA very appropriately follows Reinecke’s Gluck Improvisations with a delightful Mozart serenade at 8.31. The opera-lover has the choice between Thomas’s “Mignon” at 9.22 from 4YA, with its rather ranfied musicf based on Goethe’s “ Wilhelm Meister,” and Mozart’s “ Don Giovanni ” at 9.30 from 2YA. A play on a Chinese subject may be heard from 3YA at 9.22. For the Week

Monday—7.3o-9, 4YA: A pleasing musical programme 7.45-8.40, 3YA: Songs and pipe band music for Scottish listeners. 9.15-10.15. 3YA: A talk on modern music, followed bv Milhaud’s Sonata No. 1. 10.15, 3YA: A 8.8. C. comedy. ; Tuesday—7 15. 4YA: Talk by W. Scott Gilkison on mountaineering in the South Island. 7.38-8 14 4YA: Scenes from "Romeo and Juliet. 8-10, 4YO. Chamber music from the Romantic period. ' , , , Wednesday—B-10, 4YO- A jumbled programme including Mozart's lovely little G Major Symphony, K. 318. 1010.15, 3YA: Lewis Carroll’s sly satire, ■•The Hunting of the Snark ” Thursday—7.3o-10, 4YA: An interesting programme, with songs by the unjustly neelected comnoser Robert Franz, Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto, and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony at 9.25. 7.40-7.52. 2YA: A studio recital of Elizabethan airs and madrigals. Friday—7.ls-10, 3YA: A light programme of talks, songs, orchestral music, and compositions by Vaughan Williams. 8 2 4YA: “ Barlasch of flip Guard” 9.15-10; 4YA: Profesor T. D Adams, in readings from Oliver Wendell Holmes, introduced by Beethoven's " Lenore ” Overture, No. 3. Charivaria

Mendelssohn’s delightful Violin Concerto will be presented in a lecturerecital next Monday evening at 8.3 from 4YA by Professor Galway. This is a treat no listener will want to miss.

A 8.8. C. speaker told recently of a young girl starting out to beautify herself, “ She goes into one of those expensive beauty shops and asks for some perfume; and they offer her ‘Three Minutes of Passion,’ ‘A Night in the Desert with a Sheik,’ ’ Battle-cry of Love,’ and all these sort of things; and she says: ‘Oh. but have you nothing for a beginner? ’ ”