Letter V Classical Radio this week

A special program this week, anticipating one of the most resonant anniversaries of recent world history.

On May 9, 1945, World War II ended in Europe. Nazi Germany was crushed, but at devastating cost. The continent was in ruins. More than 32 million combatants and civilians had died, more than 6 million in the Holocaust of European Jewry. Millions were displaced from homes they would never see again.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the war’s end, four of the greatest compositions inspired by the worst conflict in European history, from Russian, British, Czech and German composers; and an American work written during the war but seemingly immune to it: Aaron Copland's “Appalachian Spring,” introduced in 1944, subsequently awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music on the date that turned out to be V-E Day.

May 7
11 a.m.-3 p.m. EDT
1500-1900 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 13 (“Babi Yar”)
Alexander Vinogradov, bass
men’s voices of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir & Huddersfield Choral Society
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Vasily Petrenko (Naxos)

Past Masters:
Britten: “War Requiem”
Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano
Peter Pears, tenor
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
The Bach Choir
London Symphony Orchestra Chorus
Highgate School Choir
Simon Preston, organ
Melos Ensemble
London Symphony Orchestra/Benjamin Britten (Decca)
(recorded 1963)

Past Masters:
Richard Strauss: “Metamorphosen”
Staatskapelle Dresden/Rudolf Kempe
(recorded 1973)
(EMI Classics)

Martinů: Symphony No. 3
Czech Philharmonic/Václav Neumann (Supraphon)

Past Masters:
Copland: “Appalachian Spring” Suite
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Aaron Copland
(RCA Victor)
(recorded 1959)