Episodes
Series | First Broadcast | Comments |
---|---|---|
DO3DO3 | 20230129 |
Singing gives comfort in dark times. Before the Nazis sanctioned Theresienstadt's 'leisure activities', covert music persisted - composers drew their own manuscript paper and choirs met in secret. Hear works that would have been forbidden elsewhere in Nazi territory, including Hebrew and Yiddish songs by Viktor Ullmann. Baritone Simon Wallfisch - co-curator of the concert and grandson of an Auschwitz survivor - also sings Ullmann's Songs of Comfort and reads first-hand accounts from the camp.
With most instruments needing to be smuggled in, Theresienstadt led composers to write for small groups, such as in the pieces for strings by Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas and Frantiek Domalický which are presented here by Guildhall School Musicians. Post-war reflections from Silvie Bodorova and Dieter Gogg complete the programme, with reflective interludes provided by students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
BBC Singers
Nicholas Chalmers conductor
Simon Wallfisch baritone/narrator
Iain Farrington piano
Guildhall School Musicians:
Hana Mizuta-Spencer violin
Melanie Gruwez violin
Kate de Campos viola
William Clark-Maxwell cello
Bogdan Skrypka percussion
Viktor Ullmann Two Hebrew Pieces for choir
Extracts from Diary of Dan by Gonda Redlich, 16 March - 6 October 1944
Words from Viktor Ullmann
Viktor Ullmann Songs of Comfort for low voice and string trio:
Extract from Goethe and Ghetto
Extract from a review by Viktor Ullmann
Gideon Klein String Trio
Words by Zeev Shek, extract from Music in Terezin by Joza Karas
Gideon Klein Folk Songs for male chorus
Silvie Bodorova 'Lacrimosa' from Terez퀀n Ghetto Requiem for baritone and string quartet
Pavel Haas 'Wild Night' from String Quartet No 2
Extract from Terezin, a story of the Holocaust by Franklin Watts
Dieter Gogg/Leo Strauss Als Ob (As If) (arr Iain Farrington)
Dieter Gogg/Otto Beer Theresienstadt, der sch怀nste Stadt der Welt (Theresienstadt, the most beautiful city in the world) (arr Iain Farrington)
Frantiek Domalický Song Without Words for string quartet
Viktor Ullmann Yiddish Songs for choir
Viktor Ullmann Komm Tod, du unser werter Gast from Der Kaiser von Atlantis (arr Iain Farrington)
Haunting choral music from the Theresienstadt ghetto
Series | First Broadcast | Comments |
---|---|---|
DO3DO3 | 20230129 |