Commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz
Music by Schumann, Beethoven, Górecki and Ilse Weber, writing by Anne Michaels, Adam Zych and Primo Levi in a broadcast to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Writing by survivors like Primo Levi and Victor Frankl paints startling pictures of existence at Auschwitz. Despite the hellish conditions, music was made in concentration camps and we'll hear about the fate of Auschwitz's Roma Orchestra and the unexpected presence of Tango at Auschwitz and archive of an interview with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch who played the cello in the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra. She once played Schumann's Träumerei for Dr Josef Mengele, who came to be known as 'the angel of death'.
We play an early recording of the first song to be written in a concentration camp, the ‘Peat Bog Soldiers’, and songs by Ilse Weber, who wrote music for the children of the Theresienstadt camp and is said to have sung to her son and other children as she accompanied them into the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Poetry by survivors András Mezei and Annette Bialik Harchik reminds us that liberation was the end of a nightmarish journey but that living with the aftermath of the Holocaust was a burden which would be carried long after the camps were destroyed.
Our readers are Henry Goodman and Maria Friedman
Producer Georgia Mann
READINGS:
Extract from a letter by Salmen Gradowski,
The Survivor -András Mezei translated by Thomas Ország-Land
If This is a Man - Primo Levi
Man’s Search For Meaning - Victor E. Frankl, translated by Lisle Lasch
Earrings - Annette Bialik Harchik translated by Rafael Bielobradek
Boots At a Concert of Lydia F - Krzystof Janusz Boczkowkski translated by Adam A. Zych and Andrzej Diniejko
The Librarian of Auschwitz - Antonio Iturbe, translated by trans Lilit Zekulin Thwaites
Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels
Violins of Hope - James A. Grymes
First Thoughts: On Liberation Day From a Concentration Camp - Annette Bialik Harchik
The Survival Syndrome - Adam Alfred Zych translated by June Friedman
Last on
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
-
00:01
György Ligeti
Atmospheres
Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Claudio Abbado. -
00:02
Johann Sebastian Bach
Chaconne (Partita in D minor, BWV.1004)
Performer: Yehudi Menuhin. -
00:05
Ernest Bloch
From Jewish Life
Performer: Raphael Wallfisch. Performer: John York. -
00:07
Maurice Ravel
Kaddish (2 Melodies hebraiques)
Singer: Nina Koshetz. -
00:11
Isidore Isou
Symphony no.4 (Juvenal)
Performer: Isidore Isou. Performer: Maria Faustino. -
00:14
Steve Reich
Different Trains
Ensemble: Kronos Quartet. -
00:17
Gustav Mahler
Symphony no.2 (4th mvt: Urlicht)
Singer: Magdalena Kožená. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. -
00:23
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata in F sharp major, Op.78
Performer: Artur Schnabel. -
00:29
Ilse Weber
Ade, Kamerad!
Performer: Gerold Huber. Singer: Christian Gerhaher. -
00:33
Johannes Brahms
Clarinet Quintet in B minor (2nd mvt: Adagio)
Performer: Thea King. Ensemble: Gabrieli String Quartet. -
00:39
Mark Waterfield
Uno Dos Tango
Composer: Steve Hellier. Performer: Mark Waterfield. -
00:40
Anonymous
The Tango from Auschwitz
Ensemble: Tangele. -
00:44
Anonymous
Peat Bog Soldiers
Singer: Erich Kunz. Orchestra: Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper. -
00:45
Ilse Weber
Ich wand're durch Theresienstadt
Performer: Bengt Forsberg. Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. -
00:50
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.2 (Resurrection)
Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. -
00:53
Johann Sebastian Bach
Dona Nobis Pacem (Mass in B minor)
Ensemble: Dunedin Consort & Players. Conductor: John Butt. -
00:56
George Gershwin
Someone to watch over me
Ensemble: The Columbians. -
00:57
Roby Lakatos
Klezmer Csardas
Ensemble: Roby Lakatos Ensemble. -
01:02
Alexander Wertynski
Lullaby for my little son in the crematorium
Performer: Aleksander Kulisiewicz. -
01:06
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki
Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
Singer: Joanna Kozlowska. Orchestra: Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Kazimierz Kord. -
01:10
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonata in C minor, Op.111
Performer: Peter Wallfisch.
Broadcasts
- Sun 26 Jan 2020 17:30Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio 3
- Sun 26 Jan 2025 18:00Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio 3