The Prophet of Prague
Alan Pryce-Jones talks about Kafka's influence in his own country and abroad

Ten Preludes, Op. 23 played by Irene Kohler (piano)
Second of a series of programmes of music by Rachmaninov

Talk by Edtward Hyams
For about a thousand years viticulture and wine-making were practised in southern England. Attempts are now being made to establish vineyards again, especially in Surrey and Kent, where the speaker has had some success with vines imported from France.

by Paul Claudel
Preface read in English by Robert Speaight

' Partage de Midi'
Translated and adapted for broadcasting by Robert Speaight from a version by Jonathan Griffin

Douglas Oameron (cello)
Philharmonia Orchestra
(Leader, Manoug Parikian )
Conducted by Anthony Bernard
Part 1
(Continued in next column)
André Caplet, who died in 1925 at the early age of forty-seven, was greatly influenced by his friend Debussy. A successful conductor, he was for a time in charge of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but gaye up conducting to devote himself to composition. Epiphanie for cello and orchestra, one of his last and most important works, is a musical fresco" inspired by an Ethiopian legend of the Nativity. Melchior, the black and gold king, goes in sumptuous procession to Bethlehem. There, moved and enraptured, he orders his little black slaves to dance in honour of the king of the earth. Songs ascend and each in his manner glorifies the Lord.' Caplet makes of this a * Cortege, Cadence. et Danse des petits Negres,' affirming his faith in a score that is gay and full of joy.
Felix Aprahamian

Form and Light
Talk by David Lewis

Part 2
L'Ascension: quatre meditations symphoniques pour orchestre
Olivier Messiaen
(first performance in England)
Majesté du Christ demandant sa gloire a son Pere
Alléluias sereins d'une ame qui desire le ciel
(Continued in next column)
Alléluia sur la trompette; Alléluia sur la cymbale
Priere du Christ montant vers son
Pere
Olivier Messiaen , organist of the Sainte-Trinite in Paris and Professor of Harmony at the Conservatoire, is at forty-two a subject of great argument in musical circles. He is a curious mixture of mystic and scientist, and writes music of compelling interest. L'Ascension was written when he was twenty-five. It comprises four symphonic meditations. The extremely slow tempo of the first and last sections, the highly chromatic harmony and vivid orchestral colouring are characteristic features .of Messiaen's music. P.A.

by Sir Geoffrey Jefferson , F.R.S.,
Professor of Neuro-Surgery in the University of Manchester
Descartes held that the human soul had its seat in the pineal gland. In this broadcast version of his Purser Lecture (originally delivered at Trinity College, Dublin, in May last year) Professor Jefferson explains why Descartes thought it possible to localise the soul at aU, and why he chose the pineal gland.

Mass: Ave Maris Stella sung by the BBC Midland Chorus
Conducted by James Denny