Press rewind on a century of the BBC with an epic eight-hour soundscape: seismic events, cultural landmarks, unforgettable voices and BBC history intertwined with classical music.
The 1940s. Once again the world is gripped by the horror of war. We hear seminal BBC broadcasts from Winston Churchill and General de Gaulle alongside newsreel from Dunkirk and Leningrad. No part of society is untouched by the war, least of all music, and we hear reflections from Shostakovich, Vaughan Williams and Messiaen. Britain starts to rebuild and we hear familiar voices: Kathleen Ferrier, Vera Lynn and “king of calypso” Lord Kitchener. The National Health Service is formed and BBC listeners tune in for the first time to Desert Island Discs and Woman's Hour.
For more information about what you’re hearing, visit bbc.co.uk/soundscapeofacentury
Archive:
1940 Churchill's First Address as PM
1940 BBC news archive from Dunkirk
1940 Postscript on Home Service - JB Priestly reflects on Dunkirk
1940-41 War time BBC news reports
1942 BBC broadcasts the UK premiere of Leningrad Symphony
1942-44 BBC news footage from Siege of Leningrad
1945 Programme of worship from Belsen concentration camp after liberation
1945 VE Day Winston Churchill in Trafalgar Square
1948 Lord Kitchener talks to BBC News report after disembarking from Empire Windrush
1948 Aneurin Bevan and Edith Summerskill speak about fledgling NHS; Broadcasts from the year NHS is founded
1942 Desert Island Discs begins
1947 Gardener's Question Time begins
1946 Woman’s Hour Begins (Ruby Ayres talks in this edition from 1949)
1946 BBC Television promotion film from Alexandra Palace
1947 Princess Elizabeth addresses nation on her 21st birthday
Radio 3’s Soundscape of a Century is a sonic celebration, not a year-by-year chronology or a complete history, but an evocative soundtrack of the era, its music and culture, as heard on the BBC.
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Music Played
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Sergey Prokofiev
Symphony no.5 in B flat major Op.100 (2nd mvt)
Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Santtu-Matias Rouvali.- Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5.
- Signum Classics.
- 102.
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Benjamin Britten
Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes (Dawn)
Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.- Chandos.
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Ralph Vaughan Williams
Symphony no. 5 in D major, 3rd movement; Romanza (Lento)
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Bryden Thomson.- CHANDOS.
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Bennie Benjamin
When the Lights Go on Again
Composer: Sol Marcus. Composer: Eddie Seiler. Performer: Vera Lynn.- One Day Music.
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Dmitry Shostakovich
Symphony No 7 in C major, Op 60, 'Leningrad'
Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.- DG.
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Olivier Messiaen
Quartet for the End of Time (Louange a l'immortalite de Jesus)
Performer: Janine Jansen. Performer: Lucas Debargue.- SONY.
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Aaron Copland
Fanfare for the Common Man
Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Antal Doráti.- DECCA.
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Lord Kitchener
London Is the Place for Me
Performer: Lord Kitchener.- Honest Jon's Records.
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Aaron Copland
Appalachian spring - suite vers. for orchestra [1945], no.7; Doppio movimento - Variations on a Shaker hymn
Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Antal Doráti.- Aaron Copland: The World of Aaron Copland.
- Decca.
- 10.
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Christoph Willibald Gluck
Che faro senza Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice)
Singer: Kathleen Ferrier. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Malcolm Sargent.- Kathleen Ferrier: Bach, Gluck, Handel.
- Decca.
- 1.
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Eric Coates
By the Sleepy Lagoon
Conductor: Eric Coates. Orchestra: Symphony Orchestra. -
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Florence Price
Symphony no.3 in C minor (Juba)
Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Gerald Finzi
Farewell to Arms, Op 9 (Aria)
Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: David Hill.- A Finzi Anthology.
- Naxos.
- 2.
Broadcast
- Sun 30 Oct 2022 12:24BBC Radio 3