Richard Wagner鈥檚 atmospheric Prelude to his opera Lohengrin(1848) is followed by Kurt Weill鈥檚 visceral response in 1941 to the bombing of Pearl Harbour 鈥� his setting of four powerful poems by the great American poet Walt Whitman, sung by 麻豆社 Radio 3 New Generation Artist James Atkinson. Weill, the German-born Jewish 茅migr茅, fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and made his home in the USA.
There鈥檚 a short lyrical work for strings by Florence Price, the first African-American woman recognized as an orchestral composer, and the concert ends with Charles Ives鈥� recreation (complete with the sound of a marching band) of Decoration Day 鈥� the US federal holiday honouring US military personnel who have died in line of duty. It鈥檚 one of the four colourful movements from Ives鈥� A New England Holiday Symphony (1887-1913).
