The Washington times., 1927-05-17

aenSMls appeared TO be enjoyed BY
all sorts and conditions Of pro-
grams last night-with little in
reference between stations and
very little disturbing static noises.
stations with q tendency to fade
DID their stuff in rather marked
fashion, and one or two stations
nad very poor brOadcasts-but on
the whole the conditions were the
pest for a. week, and almost every
sectl0n Of the continent was avail.
able for distance tuners.
The return Of Cesare sodero to
the directors desk Of the WEAF
Grand Opera Company was cele.
DRAFTED last evening by the sending
forth of one Of the most mastery
arranged performances of Bizet's
exquisite Pearl Fishers one could
demand, and provided the star
feature OF the evening program for
all the listeners served by the Ma.
tlonal Broadcast Companyss chain.
OF course. there are many listeners
VINO may not demand such exotic
compositions as 'HThe Pearl Fishers
IN their programs, and there is the
question always before broadcasters
OF whether or not straight grand
opera of this sort belongs on a
program going to tens OF thousands
who prefer lighter entertainment.
HoWever-so long as we've got
TO be cultured and refined and all
that sort of thing-let's have Sodero
mixed the refining potions and
serve them to us as he did last
night.
THE Pearl Fishers is about as
fine a combination of human emo.
ton, musically expressed, as we
want to hear. 1t tells q vivid
story In striking and brilliant terms,
vocally and instrumentally, setting
tho scenery with the orchestra that
the, vocalists fill in a logical ana
understandable way.
JUDGE KELLY
HARLAN COURT
Distance tuners enjoyed the old
Virginia; Judge" Walter &c. Kelly
who was injected to the light opera
feature Of WIZ after s o'clock.
There appeared to be no particular
light opera reason as far as nro,
gram Integrity and continuity 20.
but he was welcomed by everybody
who could hear him despite the ex.
cradle broadcast of WIZ and the
fading Of KDKA during his most
humorous moments. Erva Giles
and Frank Mum were their excel
lent selves during the course Of the
light opratic doings that were
really Hight opera.
The distinctive feature Of the
Roxy program, as We heard It from
WRC, tried to finish from WIZ
and KDKA and did get the finale
from WBAL, was a speed. test for
baritone and contralto in which
Doug Stanbury and Florence MuI,
holland figured and in which ANY
Woodford Findenis exquisite music
for Laurence Hopes "Indian Love
Lyrics" were rather badly used.
It wasn't really a fair test, because
both Stanbury and Mulholland can
both sing considerably faster than
they did last evening.
Gladys Rice sang one Of the
lyrics, the "TilI I Awake song
SANG it, il you please. with
everything in the world that could
be put into it. We've heard that
song In Europe, Asia, Africa, and
several way points, and we never
Misc Rice did it last night. She
simply abandoned herself to the
beauty of it and gave It everything
~ needed to make it great bit
ct music. Harold Van Duzee has
TOO masculine a tenor voice to be
good female impersonator and so
his version of the "Kashmiri" song
wasn't-well it just wasn't!
PASrNksS vanrxy Sa1w ISav.s 1880.
cellent account OF itself in the final
third of the program which WRC
didn't get and which we wasted q
lot of time skeltering over the con-
tinent to find, eventually locating, as
we've stated, in Baltimore at WBAI,
In good shape. While we were tour.
ing the continent. in search of a good
place to pick up Roxy the Harvest
ers were playing a farewell concert
with italian folk music at WRC.
They go on the, WIZ chain next
week, doing their stuff of a Thurs
day. The cash and carry Gypsies
hurtled many listeners back several
generations with their old "Gladi.
Rtor" march, which they played for
all 1t was worth, and we might re-
mark it was and still is worth quite
lot in stirring musical way.
In the tunable distances-and they
seemed to be unlimited last evening
the most distinctive thing we
heard was the coloratura singing Of
Nine. Joseffy at WAX, jackson.
vile. Whoever Nine. Joseffy is, she
has a remarkably flexible voice and
gave it twists and turns and trills
that were startling even to pro-
nounced addicts of the gymnastic
school of singing. The Aleppo Band
at WIZ likewise gave an interesting
performance, playing 1.-THE Star
Spangled Banner" with a brilliance
we've only heard the famous Philip
pine Constabulary Band give IT.
which is never-to-be,forgotten mu-
steal as wen as patriotic experience.