Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 280,348 playable programmes from the BBC

THE ordinary notion of Switzerland is that of a large number of white mountains entirely surrounded by cows with bells, and tourists with skis and skates. Mr. Douglas Connah will correct this notion this evening. Few places can be so delightful, or so dreary, to the traveller, as Switzerland-according to whether he visits the right or wrong places for the right or wrong reasons in the right or wrong company. Mr. Connah knows
' all that is to be known of his subject, and he has even acted professionally as a guide.

Played by LAFFITTE
Bruyeres (Heather, from 'Preludes,' Book I)

THE PRELUDES of Debussy contain all kinds of sketches of scenes and people. Most of them are impressionistic, and we need little more than the title to help us to conjure up the scene which the composer has endeavoured to translate into music. A very little exercise of imagination, for instance, enables us to recall, when we hear Bruyeres, the glorious purple and fragrant scent of the springy heather.
Yesterday we heard Debussy's impression of the muffled bells of the cathedral under the waves. Here again, in Pagodas, we get a suggestion of the continuous tinkle of bells. Perhaps the composer imagined them hung all round the pagodas. More probably, he is thinking of those little Chinamen who nod to us from mantelpieces - they also are called pagodas. This piece and the next are from the book entitled Estampes (Engravings).
In the last piece we shelter beneath the canopy of a leafy tree, and watch the steadily falling, gentle rain-shower. We may imagine we hear a distant rumble of thunder and see a flash or two of summer lightning. Then the clouds clear away and the sun bursts out again.

WHEN internal combustion engines can drive anything from a liner to a wheel-chair; when they can carry an aeroplane miles above the earth's surface, and propel a car along it at speeds approaching two hundred miles an hour-there does not seem to be room for very extensive improvement in its achievement. Yet from the scientific point of view much remains to be done in the way of perfecting the efficiency of the engine and raising the ratio of power obtained to heat supplied. Professor Burstall will examine possible lines of advance in this evening's talk.

2LO London

Appears in

About this data

This data is drawn from the Radio Times magazine between 1923 and 2009. It shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was subject to change and may not be accurate. More