Armistice Day - appropriate playlists?

[Beef Oven!]

The one minute silence on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month evokes strong feelings and emotions concerning the needless loss of so many young people's lives in the Great War.

Never again.

At some point today I will be listening to A E Houseman's complete 'Shropshire Lad' in poem and song-settings from this marvellous Hyperion CD.




For me, the most fitting mass or similar, for armistice day would be one for pacifism. And there is no better better one than Benjamin Britten's 'War Requiem. I will be listening to the classic Decca recording, this afternoon.

[zola]

The Pity Of War - Songs and poems of wartime suffering. A BBC Music magazine cover disc from 2003.

Poems all English but songs from German, French and American composers as well as British. Christopher Maltman, Mark Padmore, Sally Matthews, Iain Burnside, Roger Vignoles and Simon Russell Beale.

Now spinning.

[Pulcinella]

The Pity Of War - Songs and poems of wartime suffering. A BBC Music magazine cover disc from 2003.

Poems all English but songs from German, French and American composers as well as British. Christopher Maltman, Mark Padmore, Sally Matthews, Iain Burnside, Roger Vignoles and Simon Russell Beale.

Now spinning.

Good choice.
Will play here once the Britten Violin Concerto (BBC MM) is over, the ending of which I find as affecting as that of the War Requiem.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8sOg6w1rJc

Poignant for its potential at the very least - sketches left by Michael Heming, a 26-year-old composer/conductor killed at El Alamein, arranged/completed by Anthony Collins and played on this recording by the Hallé, conducted by Barbirolli, who was Heming's conducting mentor.

[Lat-Literal]

Considered Pau Casals's unofficial UN Anthem. Having been involved with the UN for 6 years - exclusively at its European HQ - I feel close to it. Never had a direct involvement with EU!!!! The music is wonderful but the words need re-writing. Actually, I think his performance of "Song of the Birds" at the UN conveys the spirit better but I've posted that before. The UN has a choir but it could do with focussing more on classical music so for now I am posting a very commercial sounding world music record, not that it sold well:

Alan Stivell and Youssou N'Dour - A United Earth Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfo4Ke0aJqs

There is little doubt that this Breton-Senegalese production is a march for peace as well as something of a celebratory leap and stomp in a style not dissimilar from Riverdance!

For the record, the Committee to which I was attached was a historical oddball - luckily for me, the only one in Geneva with representatives from across the world. It was not western heavy - and there was a certain poignancy in that even the Americans had to come to us! It wasn't hugely significant in the world's big affairs but the balance felt spot on.

[ahinton]

The one minute silence on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month evokes strong feelings and emotions concerning the needless loss of so many young people's lives in the Great War.

Never again.

For me, the most fitting mass or similar, for armistice day would be one for pacifism. And there is no better better one than Benjamin Britten's 'War Requiem. I will be listening to the classic Decca recording, this afternoon.

I could not agree more with your sentiments here, which is why the prospect of warmongering officialdom at Remembrance services sticks very much in the craw.

And why this Sunday business I have no idea; the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month it shall be!

[DublinJimbo]

One thing that always struck me was the extent to which the killing still went on until that eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Were the cannon fodder aware of the armistice at the front?

p.s. Meant to say that my choice has to be the Agnus Dei from the Missa solemnis. I've always found this the most affecting of anti-war music.

[Lat-Literal]

The one minute silence on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month evokes strong feelings and emotions concerning the needless loss of so many young people's lives in the Great War.

Never again.

At some point today I will be listening to A E Houseman's complete 'Shropshire Lad' in poem and song-settings from this marvellous Hyperion CD.




For me, the most fitting mass or similar, for armistice day would be one for pacifism. And there is no better better one than Benjamin Britten's 'War Requiem. I will be listening to the classic Decca recording, this afternoon.

Your picture - which I respect - has given me a slight crisis of conscience which has been with me ever since Sunday. I might still cave in and buy one at the local shop if they have them during the next hour. Have to say I am not at all keen on British Aerospace sponsoring the British Legion efforts this year but I suppose nothing in life is completely clear cut.

It will be bailing out HMG yet again - a full time occupation, given its theft in 2010. I'm not on any income or benefits!

(My comment re you and Talking Heads was made only with an attempt at humour and meant in the best of spirits)

[greenilex]

Commercial or not, I enjoyed the Alan Stivell/Youssou N'Dour song and even played it twice. Thanks, L-L.

[Pabmusic]

...Were the cannon fodder aware of the armistice at the front?....

Apparently the Americans marked 11 am by firing a last barrage of all their artillery along their whole lines.

[Historian]

One thing that always struck me was the extent to which the killing still went on until that eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Were the cannon fodder aware of the armistice at the front?

The soldiers of both sides were informed in advance, so yes. Having said that, at the time no-one was sure that this marked the final end of the fighting rather than a temporary cessation. Hence allied offensive operations continued up until 11:00 in some sectors, as did German defensive responses. This meant that a number of men were killed in the last few minutes of the war. There have been several studies of the various unlucky candidates to be the last man killed in the war. For the British/Imperial forces the fighting ended in the vicinity of Mons, the same area hostilities had commended between the British and the Germans in August 1914.

[Lat-Literal]

Commercial or not, I enjoyed the Alan Stivell/Youssou N'Dour song and even played it twice. Thanks, L-L.

You are welcome.