The Times Cassette The Times cassette offer Times Newspapers has entered the cassette business. Until recently this growing industry has been dominated by music cassettes, but in the past five years sales of non-music cassettes (" spoken word ") have risen far more sharply than those sold as pure entertainment and forecasts today suggest that it will not be many years before music cassettes are trailing behind " spoken word " cassettes. Year Music cassettes Spoken Word (Audio Entertainment) 1971 11,700,000 800,000 1972 17,500,000 10,900,000 1973 22,900,000 15,000,000 1974 24,900,000 15,800,000 1975 30,200,000 23,000,000 (forecast) (forecast) Times cassettes will cover a wide variety of leisure and learning subjects in a dramatized way. The emphasis is on informative entertainment covering literature, sport, drama and leisure. Cassettes wvere first launched in the United Kingdom in 1967 and by 1970 sales of cassette players were running at over one million a year. The forecast for sales this year is 20,000,000. So far the United Kingdom market has been virtually entirely music sound, though recently there has been a growing realization of the potential of cassettes in audio-visual education and training. In its decision to go into the cassette market Times Newspapers has joined Phonogram, one of the United Kingdom's biggest record companies, which markets under such labels as Philips, Mercury. Vertigo and Fontana. The cassettes will be sold through traditional and non-ti-aditional outlets such as music shops and the Audio Club of Gi-eat Britain. They are also available directly from The Times. and The Sunday Times and the Times Supplements. For the benefit of readers a coupon is available below. Most of the cassettes will retail at ?3.15 though some of the longer ones are dearer. Six titles launch the series. They are Enjoy Bach, Harpsichord Music: played by Colin Tilney, with commentary bv Felix Aprahamian. Enjoying Pop, Part 1: The 20thz Century Panorama: Music by many leading popular music artists, with commentary by Derek .Jewell. The English Play-Dr Faustus: An adaptation of Christopher Marlowve's famous play by John Peter, with a cast including Peter Jeffrey and Timothy Bateson. An Hour with Edgar Allen Poe: Four stories from the classic master of the macabre, read by Edgar Lustgarten. Improve Your Driving: Advice, instruction and illustration from Judith Jackson and Jeremy Barrett. Improve Your Bridge: Illustrative games and instruction (plus charts of the hands to be played) by Boris Schapiro, Alan Hiron and others. Further titles will be released next month, including Improve Your Golf, Summer Cooking, Enjoying Chopin, and Kidsfun. Further titles will be issued at monthly intervals throughout 1975 and by April 1976 at least 30 titles are planned. We invited six people to review the cassettes for us. These are their views: Enjoy Bach, Harpsichord Music I must declare an interest. The urbane Felix Aprahamian is lord of the manor where I live, with a Pied Piper's allure in his many interests, from the Japan- ese Imperial Gardens to the music of 1Messiaen. His enthusiasm is equally infectious here, and what he says is interesting, without being fuli of what Bernard Shaw called " Mesopo- tamian words like the Dominant of D minor ". Clearly aimed at people keen to improve their range of experience, this cassette should appeal to anyone already fas- cinated by the distinctive clang of the harpsichord, and wanting to investigate further. Here tbings are gently ex- plained, excellently illustrated by Colin Tilney, and superbly recorded using the Dolby system. The chosen examples will whet the appetite, whether in a short Prelude Bach wrote as a practice piece, or in part of the majestic Italian Concerto, where the luxuriant writing well dis- plays the contrast in sound masses Bach had in mind. Colin Tilney is faithful to Bach's intentions in these perform- ances, brilliant, gay, and thoughtful by turlls, as one imagines Bach might have played them himself. The actual sound as recorded is mag- nificently crisp and clear, sounding well on a modest portable cassette-player, yet still riemaining flawless at a high volume on the most refined equipment. It is no criticism to suspect that one might wish to dispense with the spoken word after a time, end to retain the performances. That is suirely the inten- tion. At this poinit you pass on the cassette to another thirsty soul, and buy y3ourself some recorded Bach harpsi- chord collections. Barry Hall The author is Publicity Officer of BBC Radio Thzree. An hour with Edgar Allan Poe The hour, of course, is the witching hour, and the full ghastly import of the nocturnal outrages in four of Poe's best loved, though not necessarily best, tales is graduallv unfolded in the agree- ably sinister tones of Mr Lustgarten. The choice of reader seems a particu- Times Cassettes are on sale in many good bookshops and record shops, or dii-ect by post from The Times. To order, complete the coupon below clearly in block letters using a ball point pen. Please allow up to 28 days for delivery under normal circumstances. Available in the United Kingdom only. SEND TO: TIMES CASSETTES, 32 WHARF ROAD, LONDON, Ni 7SD QUANTITY . fTITLE D 5 An Hour with Edgar Allan Poe oa ?3.15 E D Dr Faustus @ ?3.15 F D Enjoying Bach. Harpsichord Music @ ?3.15 A 5 Improve Your Driving 0) ?3.15 B 5 Improve Your Bridge ('n ?3.15 C D Enjoying Pop 1. 90-minute double play cassette @ ?4.19 I enclose a crossed cheque/postal order value ? .............. payable to rimes Newspapers Ltd. Name .............................................................. Address ............................................................ .................................. :.................................. ..... .................I.. Postcode......... larly happy one. Mr Lustgarten is a self-confessed Poe addict and his read- ing has that quality of innocence which characterizes many of Poe's tales-the feeling that the perpetrator of some horrifying deed is merely the victim of cruel Fate. Also his narration is free of the self-conscious dramatization that might have been expected from an actor. As for the stories, they embrace the criminal and the insane: a man walled up alive; a love affair to whichl death is no barrier; a murderer betrayed by his victim; a manic obsession con- cerning a dying girl. All display that kind of creeping terror peculiar to Poe's work. To sensitive ears, Ligeia and Berenice suffer by amputation. As written by Poe they are penetrating studies of fearful mental disorder. As edited for this recording they are reduced to the role of "all-action spectaculars ". The omissions from The Cask of Amontil. lado are curious but not particularly damaging, and nothing material is missed out of The Tell-Tale Heart. The editing is a minor irritation, how- ever, compared to the background music and sound-effects. The music alone might have been bearable, but the sound-effects-screams, groans, heartbeats, heavy breathing-at times make the recording sound like The Goon Show. Part of Poe's genius is that he provides the imagination with all the stimulus it needs. These stories can only be hindered by help from the electronics department. It is a pity that in attempt- ing to bring such works to life on tape, the makers of this cassette have for- gotten what Poe knew so well: that silence is more terrifying than sound. David Sinclair The authorl is now pi-eparing a bio- graphy of Edgar Allan Poe. Improve your bridge Although aimed at the more experienced player Improve Your Bridge with Boris Schapiro and Alan Hiron is so well presented, and the crucial points so clearly explained, that almost any level of bridge player will benefit from stady of the tactics involved. The combination of the pungent personality of the former world champion Boris Schapiro, who has captured every bridge title worth winning, with the dry wit of Alan Hiron, a leading teacher and extremely competent player him- self, works surprisingly well. It will be difficult to find a more pleasant way of learning some of the finer points of the game than by sett- ling down to the tape recorder and hand diagram and eavesdropping on the thoughts, expi-essed aloud, by the four first-class rubber bridge players when considering their bids, leads and plays. Their varied personalities come througlh, as thinking people with whlom the listener will have no difficulty in identifying-only to find himself in their position of having made in most cases the second best play. The bidding system used is a simple, natural one of Acol with two clubs as the forcing bid and a variable one no trump opening. Boris Schapiro, with the aid of four weU chosen illustrative hands, affirms his conviction that play- ing expert bridge is largely a matter of being able to count to 13 while avoid- ing silly errors rather than making brilliant play. For those unable to learn from books this cassette will be a particular bonn. Dimmie Fleming Thze author was a member of the British World prize-winning bridge team. Improve your driving This is not so much a set of instructions as an experienced practitioner's guide to sensible and therefore safe driving. It takes the form of a running commen- tary by Jeremy Barrett (a director of British School of Motoring) who is driving, and Sundap Timnes Motoring Correspondent Judith Jackson, vho rides with him. She provides linking passages and occasionially acts as devil's advocate. Mr Barrett is a highly accomplished road reader. His yard-by-yard descrip- tion of the hazards of the route, whether he is in the high street or on the motorway, makes one realize that driving a car properly is much more of a fLIll time job thani most of us make it. With hindsight, much of what he says seems obvious. (" Being polite on the road takes so little more time . . . and is a much easier way of getting around.") Of course; y,et how often do we give vent to frayed tempers, forget- ful of the danger involved. Motoring enthusiasts-the kind whlo drive around in wide-wheeled cars wearing rally jackets, fierce scowls and paper-thin leather gloves-will not understand what this cassette is all about. Nor, I stisnect,. will rhe elderl,- iZzi~~z ab u. o, I u ct, wll te el ei a.. Q8 x Ec self-taught, motorists wvho think because they have been driving for 50 years there is nothing left to learn. In fact, both would stand to benefit frrn it more than most. Mr Barrett effectively kills off some hoary old myths about driving skill, and how it should be displayed. "Heel- ing and toeing "-the simultaneous operation of brake and accelerator by the right foot to make instant, double- declutched downward changes, has long been held by enthusiasts to be the hall- mark of the good driver. Not so, says Mr Barrett. A cechnique designed to save split-seconds on the race track by delaying braking has no place on the road because, if you plan your driving nroperly, you don't need it. It is hard to see what relevance the music has to the text. There is t'l much of it and one passage sounds for all the world like Bank Holiday Monday at Liverpool Street Station in the days of steam. But in general, it is a good effort. Try listening to it in your car the next time you are feeling everyone else on the road is an idiot, you may realize that the idiot is yourself. Stuart Marshall The author is a free-lance motoring writer. The English play- Dr Faustus Ivan Berg's recorded production of " Dr Faustus" reduces that play to almost exactly 53 minutes, which is the time it takes to reach Hyde Park Corner from Maidenhead assuming that you're in a car, it's not raining and the lights are mostly wvith you. NoNv, if that's what you most want and expect of " Faustus ", an in-car alternative to the wonders of Radio One or an instant summary of the play for those not blessed with the powers of reading or theatre-going, then I have very little to complain about. John Peter's adaptation, using Mar- lowe's original text in conjunction with extracts from the English Faust Book, is admirably curt, clear and concise and the performances (well, readings) of Peter Jeffrey as Faustus and Timothy Bateson as Mephistophilis are solid Radio Three reliable. True, the employ- ment of only three other actors to cover four story-tellers, seven deadly sins and assorted mnessengers aad servants does seem economic even for these hard times, but together they provide a Listener's Digest wvhich, in its own quick-frozen, freeze-dried, dehydrated way covers the bare essentials and ser- ves to introduce the play to those who would not otherwise have encountered it, in much the same way that if vou inscribed the plot of "King Lear" on the back of matchboxes and then hianded them out with packs of cigar- ettes you could be said to be increasinii the audience for Shakespeare. The trouble is however that in opening new minds to "Dr Faustus" this cas- sette (I suspect the first of a series, since it is subtitled " World of Dra-a " and there's a helpful note to the effect that this is The English Play, presum- ably aimed at those of us who were expecting the full German operatic version in 53 minutes) will equally quicklv close those minds to it, since by the end of side two Faustus is safelv in hell and that appears to be that. Except of course for the fact that Marlowe wrote one of the most poetic, theatrical and massive of all Elizabethan tragedies, and one which wvas intended for a fate better than reduction to adequacy. Sheridan Morley The author is Arts Editor and D-amtta Critic of Punch. Enjoying pop Thez-e is an old saying to the effect that when a clock strikes 13, it is not only disclosing that it is wrong now, but also hinting stiongly that it has never been right. 'A cassette tape embodying a popular history of music in our time is too sensational an event to pass with- out comment, and the first comment to niake on Derek Jewell's account of how popular music happens, is that after striking 12 with commendable firmness by stressing the genius of the likes of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, he then even more firmly strikes 13. by suggesting that a great deal of gar- bage by assorted fashionable Pop groups is of comparable importance and value. The only way in which this kind of confusion can be achieved is bv side- stepping issues of quality, and probably the most significant single fact about the spoken commentary is that not until the dying seconds of the long address is the word " quality " mentioned at all. Admit,tedly an objective historical survey is no place for qualitative assess- ments; the only trouble is that there is no such thing as an. objectiveX historical sur-vev Benny Green