January 31, 2025

Voices of Terezin

1 hour 19 minutes

Composer of the Week marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz with a series commemorating some of the musical voices that were silenced by the atrocities of the Second World War. This week, Donald Macleod focuses on the penultimate destination of these musicians, the Nazi concentration camp at Terezin, and the incredible story of creative resistance in the face of unthinkable adversity and persecution which unfolded there.

Music Featured:

Gideon Klein:

Bachuri Le’an Tisa (my Boy, Where are you going?)

Lullaby

String Quartet, Op 2 (iii. Adagio)

Divertimento for Winds (iii. Adagio and iv. Allegro)

Folk Songs for Male Chorus: 'Už mně koně vyvádějí' (They have untethered my horses)

Piano Sonata

String Trio

Viktor Ullmann:

Sha shtil

Piano Sonata No 7 (1st mvt, Allegro)

6 Lieder, Op 17 (No 1, Am Himmelfahrt; No 5, Wie ist die Nacht)

Piano Concerto, Op 25 (1st & 2nd mvt)

String Quartet No 3, Op 46

Der Kaiser von Atlantis (excerpts)

Hans Krása:

Brundibár Suite (7th mvt)

Tanec for String Trio

Kammermusik for Harpsichord and 7 Instruments

Theme and Variations for String Quartet

Three Songs to texts of Arthur Rimbaud

Brundibár, Act II

Pavel Haas:

Pripoved (Narrative)

Quartet Op 2 “From the Monkey Mountains” (2nd mvt, Coach, Coachman and Horse)

Overture for Radio, Op 11

Šarlatán Suite, Op 14 (excerpt)

Study for Strings

Four Songs on Chinese Poetry

Ilse Weber: Kleines Wiegenlied

Karel Švenk: Rozloučení (from play The Last Cyclist)

Karel Švenk: Pod destnikem (Under an umbrella); Vesechno jde! (Terezin Hymn)

Ilse Weber: Ich wandre durch Theresienstadt; Wiegala

František Domažlický: Song without Words

František Domažlicky: Suite Danza

Karel Berman: Piano Suite: Reminiscences (excerpts)

Presented by Donald Macleod

Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales & West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Voices of Terezin https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002756y

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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By BBC Radio 3

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