Songs In Times Of Distress [Drama On 3]

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 František Domažlický 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)

František Domažlický 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

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