Commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz
Henry Goodman and Maria Friedman with readings marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Music by Schumann, Beethoven, Górecki and Ilse Weber.
In this special edition of Words and Music marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, readers Henry Goodman and Maria Friedman read poetry and prose about life and death at the most notorious Nazi concentration camp. We'll hear from survivors like Primo Levi and Victor Frankl, who paint startling pictures of existence at Auschwitz; and from 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'.
Despite the hellish conditions, music was made in concentration camps. We'll hear about the fate of Auschwitz's Roma Orchestra and the unexpected presence of Tango at Auschwitz. You'll hear 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.
Producer Georgia Mann
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
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00:01
György Ligeti
Extract from Atmospheres
Performer: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (conductor).- DG, 429 260-2.
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Salmen Gradowski
Extract from a letter by Salmen Gradowski, discovered after liberation in a flask buried on the grounds of the Auschwitz-Birkenau crematorium, read by Maria Friedman
00:03Johann Sebastian Bach
Extract from Partita in D minor, BWV 1004: Chaconne
Performer: Yehudi Menuhin.- EMI, 7678102.
András Mezei Translated from the Hungarian & edited by Thomas Ország-Land
Extract from The Survivor, read by Henry Goodman
Desert Island Discs
Anita Wallfish in conversation with Sue Lawley
00:05Bloch
Extract From Jewish Life
Performer: Rafael Wallfisch (cello), John York (piano).- Nimbus, NI5943.
Primo Levi, translated by Stuart Wolf
Extract from If This is a Man, read by Maria Friedman
00:07Ravel
Kaddish from 2 Mélodies hébraïques
Performer: Nina Koshetz (soprano).- Opal, CDS9855.
00:12Isou
Extract from Symphony No. 4
Performer: Isidore Isou, Maria Faustino.- Al Dante, AD19.
Primo Levi, translated by Stuart Wolf
Extract from If This is a Man, read by Maria Friedman
Victor E. Frankl, translated by Lisle Lasch
Extract from ManÂ’s Search For Meaning, read by Henry Goodman
00:14Reich
Extract from Different Trains
Performer: Kronos Quartet.- Nonesuch, 9791762.
Annette Bialik Harchik translated by Rafael Bielobradek
Earrings, read by Maria Friedman
00:17Mahler
Symphony no. 2 in C minor "Resurrection" 4th mvt: Urlicht (Sehr feierlich)
Performer: Magdalena Kozena, Berlin Philharmonic, Simon Rattle (conductor).- EMI, 5099964736327.
Krzystof Janusz Boczkowkski translated by Adam A. Zych and Andrzej Diniejko
Boots At a Concert of Lydia F, read by Henry Goodman
00:23Beethoven
Extract from Piano Sonata Op. 78
Performer: Arthur Schnabel (piano).- Music Concepts, MC181.
Primo Levi, translated by Stuart Wolf
Extract from If This is a Man, read by Maria Friedman
Victor E. Frankl, translated by Lisle Lasch
Extract from ManÂ’s Search For Meaning, read by Henry Goodman
00:29Ilse Weber
Ade, Kamerad!
Performer: Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Gerold Huber (piano).- DG, 4776546.
Antonio Iturbe, translated by trans Lilit Zekulin Thwaites
Extract from The Librarian of Auschwitz, read by Henry Goodman
Antonio Iturbe, translated by trans Lilit Zekulin Thwaites
Extract from The Librarian of Auschwitz, read by Maria Friedman
00:33Brahms
Quintet for clarinet and strings (Op.115) in B minor, 2nd movement: Adagio
Performer: Thea King (clarinet), Gabrieli String Quartet.- Hyperion, CDA66107.
Victor E. Frankl, translated by Lisle Lasch
Extract from ManÂ’s Search For Meaning, read by Henry Goodman
00:39Mark. R Waterfield, Steven Guy Hellier
Uno Dos Tango
Performer: Mark Waterfield (violin).- West One Music Group, WOMG 034.
00:40Lyrics translated into Yiddish by P.M and Shmerke Kaczerginsky
The Tango from Auschwitz
Performer: Tangele.- TZADIK, TZ8124.
Anne Michaels
Extract from Fugitive Pieces, read by Henry Goodman
00:44Anonymous
Peat Bog Soldiers
Performer: Erich Kunz (baritone), Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus.- Fontana, BIG327L.
00:04Ilse Weber
Ich Wandre durch Theresienstadt
Performer: Anne Sofie Von Otter (mezzo), Bengt Forsberg (piano).- DG, 4776546.
Anita Wallfish
Extract from Desert Island Discs
Victor E. Frankl, translated by Lisle Lasch
Extract from ManÂ’s Search For Meaning, read by Henry Goodman
00:50Gustav Mahler
Extract from Symphony No. 2
Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.- Warner, 9463458025.
00:53Bach
Donna Nobis Pacem from Mass in B minor
Performer: Dunedin Consort and Players, John Butt (director).- LINN, CKD354.
00:56George Gershwin
Someone to Watch Over Me
Performer: The Columbians Dance Orchestra.- Halcyon, DHDL112.
James A. Grymes
Extract from Violins of Hope, read by Henry Goodman
00:58Roby Lakatos
Klezmer Csardas
Performer: Roby Lakatosh (violin), Aldo Granato (accordion), Roby Lakatos Ensemble, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.- Avanti Classic.
James A. Grymes
Extract from Violins of Hope, read by Maria Freidman
Richard Dimbleby
Describing scenes at Belsen, 19th April 1945
01:02Alexander Wertynski & Aaron Liebeskind
Lullaby for My Little Son in the Crematorium
Performer: Aleksander Kulisiewicz.- Folkways, FSS37700.
01:06Henryk Mikołaj Górecki
Extract from Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
Performer: Joanna Kozlowska (soprano), Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Kazimierz Kord (conductor).- Decca, 4787433.
Annette Bialik Harchik
First Thoughts: On Liberation Day From a Concentration Camp, read by Maria Friedman
Adam Alfred Zych translated by June Friedman
The Survival Syndrome (from the cycle ‘Syndromes’)
Anita Wallfisch
Extract from Desert Island Discs
01:11Beethoven
Extract from Piano Sonata Op. 111
Performer: Peter Wallfisch.- ´óÏó´«Ã½ Recording.
Broadcast
- Sun 26 Jan 2020 17:30´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3