Venezuelan youth orchestrates political protest

Tens of thousands of students are expected to march through Caracas and other cities today in protest at Hugo Chávez's move to amend Venezuela's constitution, despite violence which has injured at least eight students.

Masked gunmen opened fire on a university campus in clashes between pro- and anti-Chávez groups in Caracas on Wednesday. The university said the government used thugs to intimidate protesters but Mr Chávez blamed the marchers. "They generally take the path of fascist violence and confront the laws and the people, and they are always looking to the Pentagon, high-ranking generals," he told a summit in Chile yesterday.

Campuses are the focus of opposition to Mr Chávez's referendum on December 2 to permit him to run indefinitely and accelerate what he terms a socialist revolution. Raul Isaias Baduel, a retired army commander and long-time Chávez ally, has joined the opposition to the draft constitution, saying it amounts to a coup.

Today's Guardian reports it. I wonder how many music blogs will even mention it?

Now playing - Deutsche Grammophon's great recording of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. This is what the Gramophone Good CD Guide said - It has become utterly impossible to keep track of all recordings of Beethoven's music ... So who would predict that anything new could possibly be added to what has so often been done, and done well? Thus we might have reasoned in the mid-1970s, but then the seemingly impossible came to pass. When Carlos Kleiber's recording of Beethoven's Fifth was issued in 1975 ... the great clock of Beethovenian interpretation struck the hour.

Carlos Kleiber's father, Erich, resigned his post as director of Berlin's Staatsoper in December 1934 in protest against the policies of the Nazis. He continued to work in Europe outside Germany, but the spread of Fascism forced him to leave the continent in 1939. Ironically it was to South America that Kleiber fled. He spent the years between 1939 and 1946 conducting less than world class orchestras in Argentina, Peru and Chile, and willingly accepted this as the price of his political beliefs.

In 1951 Erich Kleiber returned to Berlin and to the Staatsoper which was now in the communist sector of the city. The opera house itself had been destroyed in the last months of the war, and performances took place in the Admiralspalast, a former dance hall. Kleiber found post-war East Berlin politically brittle, and the working conditions in the still ruined city were extremely difficult. He resigned in March 1955 on principle after a dispute with the authorities over the removal of an inscription to Frederick the Great on the newly renovated Staatsoper building.

Carlos Kleiber was born in 1930 in pre-Nazi Berlin. In that year the highlights at the Staatsoper included its director, Erich Kleiber, conducting Darius Milhaud's new opera Christophe Colomb, Hans Pfitzner conducting his own Palestrina, and Richard Strauss conducting Intermezzo. So when Beethoven's Fifth finished on the CD player I switched to another DG disc, Christian Thielemann conducting the Orchester Der Deutsche Oper Berlin in three of the preludes from Palestrina and the prelude to Capriccio. Sadly the CD seems to be deleted, but recommended if you can find a copy.

Now read how the East Germans rewrote music history.
Do find a copy of Erich Kleiber, A Memoir by John Russell (Andé Deutsch 1957) if you can. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Festival of light marks collapse of communism

Today, November 9, is the Hindu festival of Diwali. This is the "Festival of Light," when lamps are used to signify the victory of good over evil. At midnight on November 9 1989 good was victorious over evil in Europe, and East Germany's communist rulers opened the gates along the Berlin Wall after hundreds of people converged on crossing points.

The header photo was taken by me outside the Nicolai Church in Leipzig. It was here that a candle-lit vigil on October 9 1989 precipitated Die Wende. This was the peaceful revolution that brought down the East German communist regime, breached the Berlin Wall and redrew the political map of Europe. The Nicolai Church was also the venue for another great triumph of good over evil, the first performance of Bach's St John Passion in 1723.

Now playing - Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony (Chailly, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Decca 4366262). Light was important to Messiaen (left), and he described his Catholic faith as a 'theological rainbow'. His music was influenced by Hindu rhythms, and the title of the epic, and erotic, Turangalîla Symphony is a compound of two Sanskrit words. These can be broadly translated as 'rhythms of life and love'. Elsewhere David Derrick has written 'conscious musical syntheses of East and West tend to fail'. But Turangalîla certainly doesn't fail, and that's because Messiaen truly defined the over-used word genius.

More on Wende and Nicolai Church here, and a world exclusive picture of the Berlin Wall here. See post-Wende Berlin here.
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Are words the new music?

A thought provoking week. Lunch on Thursday with an old friend who had a very successful career in classical music. He was complaining about the inane chatter of the current BBC Radio 3 presenters, and said he now listens to talk based Radio 4 most of the time, and heard there the Rudolph Dunbar documentary I wrote about recently. That made me realise that the last two BBC radio programmes I have praised here were both talks on Radio 4 about musicians, about David Munrow and Rudolph Dunbar to be precise.

The next day my wife and I presented our first Community Chest programme on Future Radio here in Norwich, UK. (Photo above shows us trying to work out how we can slip 70 seconds of Nancarrow's Player Piano Study No. 2B into the station's computer driven MOR playlist to mark the tenth anniversary of the composer's death). The two hour programme was 80% talk with live guests in the studio discussing public art commissions, farm shops versus supermarkets, the Baha'i Faith, and young people as victims of crime. The whole show was a blast, the guests enjoyed themselves, the time flew, and the station manager seemed well pleased.

Words seem to be becoming my new music. In addition to Britten's Noyes Fludde, with it's central spoken part for The Voice of God, my CD player has been hosting much Stravinsky recently, including Oedipus Rex, The Flood, and A Sermon, and A Narration and a Prayer, all works with narrators. And further proof comes from another CD set that has been sharing the personal playlist with the Britten and the Works Of Stravinsky - it is also a work with a prominent role for a speaker.

Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder is fiendishly difficult to capture on disc with its six soloists, choirs, eight flutes, five oboes, seven clarinets, three basoons, two counter-basoons, ten horns, six trumpets, one bass-trumpet, one alto-trombone, four tenor-bass-trombones, one bass-trombone, one counter-bass trombone, one counter-bass-tuba, much percussion, four harps and a celesta. Too often recordings of these massive forces are marred by thick and muddy textures that seriously diminish the impact of Schoenberg's extraordinary score. The Simon Rattle reccording made with the Berlin Philharmonic in the Philharmonie Hall, Berlin in 2001 is an example of this opaque sound, although it is not surprising as the Philharmonie is not noted for producing flattering recorded sound even with moderate sized forces.

My reference Gurrelieder on disc has long been Pierre Boulez's CBS recording. This was made with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and various choruses, and was superbly engineered by Bob Auger in the capacious West Ham Central Mission in London. I bought it when it was first released on vinyl LP in 1975, although it is now, of course, on CD. (Follow this path for a fascinating article by Bob Auger and producer Paul Myers on recording the Gurrelieder - it was captured in 1974 in both stereo and surround-sound SQ quadraphonic formats). A colleague of mine at EMI sung in the choir for the recording, and recounted how everyone was so mesmerised by Boulez's passion for the work that the combined forces continued recording well beyond the alloted end of the last session when it looked as thought the recording might not be completed in the scheduled sessions.

I didn't hear Eliahu Inbal's Gurrelieder, recorded with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, when it was first issued on Denon in 1993. But its re-release at super-budget price (£7 in the UK) on Dutch independent label Brilliant Classics gave me an opportunity to sample it, and I am very glad I did. The performance is excellent, if not quite up to Boulez's persuasive advocacy. But the recorded sound more than makes up for any minor deficiencies in the performance. This is the best recorded account of the Gurrelieder I have heard by a long way. The sound has space around it, there is a believable sound stage, and real attack and slam. I listen to a lot of CDs, and this Frankfurt Gurrelieder is as good as anything I've heard from disc for a long time.

There are two reasons why it is sonically outstanding. First, Denon engineer Detlev Kittler avoided the temptation of using a large number of 'spot' microphones to capture the huge forces. Instead, fewer judicially placed mics capture a coherent sound picture. The second reason why the sound is so good is that the acoustics of the recording venue are so good.

I worked in Frankfurt for a time in the 1970's, and then the old Frankfurt Opera House (Die Alte Oper) was still a fenced-off ruin after being burnt out in a bombing raid in March 1944. Die Alte Oper re-opened in 1981, but although the original exterior was retained the interior is a completely new multi-purpose complex including the Grosse Saal, a modern 2500 seat concert hall using a lot of old-fashioned wood to give outstanding acoustics (see photo below). It is here that Eliahu Inbal, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and their choirs and soloists recorded the Gurrlelieder, and the results are revelatory.

If you don't have the Gurrelieder in your CD collection this bargain price re-release from Brilliant Classics is unmissable - if you like Wagner and don't know the Gurrelieder you are missing a real treat. Even if you have the excellent Boulez or Ozawa accounts (or any of the other versions in this comprehensive listing) you really should sample Eliahu Inbal and the glorious sound of Die Alte Oper Frankfurt for your local equivalent of around £7. It even comes in classy packaging which makes a change from Naxos' utilitarian graphics, and includes an excellent essay on the Gurrelieder plus full texts.

This meandering path reminds me of a story about Dies Alte Oper which rather nicely captures today's theme of words and music. For a number of years I attended the Frankfurt International Book Fair on business. A few years ago I checked the concert listings when I arrived in the city, and noticed a performance of Mahler's Seventh Symphony in Die Alte Oper. But unfortunately it seemed unlikely that I would make it as I had an important distribution deal to finalise with one of the leading German book distributors.

The large German company I was dealing with was quite switched on to classical music, and had the distribution rights to German retail book stores for Deutsche Grammophon. I met with their young and dynamic CEO in their booth at the book fair, and was fortunate to tie up the deal by the end of the afternoon. As a business courtesy I invited the CEO to dinner that evening. But I was mighty relieved when he pleaded another business commitment - I was free to dash to the Mahler.

Quick sprint back to the hotel, change out of the business suit, and grab a cab ride to Die Alte Oper just in time for the Mahler. As my taxi pulled up outside the concert hall another cab pulled up behind me. Out stepped the CEO of the German book distributor with his wife.


The Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra are at the BBC Proms tomorrow (August 13) with a programme of Weber, Mahler and Brahms orchestrated, appropriately, by Schoenberg. And now follow this path for an interesting take on contemporary composers from Frankfurt based Daniel Wolf.
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Kurt Vonnegut's Dresden

The death of Kurt Vonnegut (left) has brought many new readers here. Vonnegut's novels include Slaughterhouse-Five based on his experience of the 1945 bombing of Dresden. Here is a summary of Dresden resources on the Path:

* Vonnegut gets his Dresden facts wrong ~ self-explanatory
* I am a camera - Dresden ~ inspirational pictures
* Dead, dead, dead everywhere ~ accounts of the bombing
* Dresden Requiem ~ contemporary music tribute
* The act of killing from 20,000 feet ~ a new book
* Intoxicating Heinichen from Dresden ~ happier times

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Dresden February 13th 2007

Nazi numbers were down to 1,600 – among them extremists from Hungary, the UK, Austria and France – for the 2007 annual fascist commemoration of the Allied air raids on Dresden in February 1945. For several years the event has been a key date in the German and international nazi calendar. Two years ago more than 7,000 fascists attended.

As usual the nazis marched with the slogan “No bombing Holocaust ever again”, ridiculing the victims of the real Holocaust, Hitler’s industrialised mass murder of Jews, Roma and Sinti. This year the demonstration was accompanied by an “action week” organised by an alliance of all Dresden’s rightwing extremists outside the National Democratic Party (NPD) under the leadership of “Free Nationalist”. The NPD’s leaders attended the march.

The nazis were faced with a strong protest from 1,000 mostly young anti-fascists who repeatedly blocked their path, delaying them and finally forcing them to shorten their demonstration. Some of the more militant nazis tried violently to break out of their own demonstration but ran into conflict with the police and anti-fascists. To some extent they succeeded but ended up fighting with police and anti-fascists.

Scandalously, however, the police this time allowed those nazis who had not already gone home in frustration at the anti-fascist blockade to demonstrate directly opposite the New Synagogue. Nevertheless, anti-fascists, encouraged by their success in ruining the nazi’s evening, are optimistic about preventing next year’s demonstration.

Frank Buschmann reports from Dresden via Antifaschistisches Infoblatt, Antifa-Net , and International Searchlight.

Now read about, and see, Dresden, 13th February 1945.
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I am a camera in East Berlin

"I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in the kimono washing her hair. Some day, all this will have to be developed, carefully printed, fixed." (from Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood, 1939)

The remarkable photo above was developed, carefully printed, and fixed in the 1970s, but has never before been published. It shows two of the feared East German Vopos (Volkspolizei) whose job it was to guard the Berlin Wall. The photograph was taken across death-strip from the West side of the Wall using a powerful telephoto lens. The original print was passed to me recently, and I scanned it to create the image above. The photographer tells me it has never been seen in public before.

For long periods both sides in the Cold War stand-off exchanged nothing more than shots from cameras across the Wall. But for short periods the shots came from guns. Estimates vary as to how many died trying to cross the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989. The official figure from the German Federal Prosecutor's office is 86 dead at the hands of the Vopos and others. The German Government supported website Chronik der Mauer puts the figure at 125. An even higher figure of 227 is given by Arbeitsgemeinschaft 13, an organisation linked to the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie museum, and known for its strongly anti-communist stance.

Fortunately Berlin is no longer divided, and for pictures of the city today see I am a camera - Berlin re-unified. A united Germany, including the former East Germany, is now one of the member states of the fast-growing European Union. This weekend the EU is marking its 50th anniversary with a celebration of its many achievements. These include creating the political climate that allows democracy to flourish in 27 member countries. Among these are Spain, Portugal, Greece and ten former Communist countries, none of which were truly free in the decades following the Second World War.

In 2005 the European Union and its member states paid out more than €43bn in 2005 in aid to developing countries. This is 0.32 per cent of GNP of the 25 member states, and is approaching double the per capita aid level paid out by the United States, which currently spends 0.2 per cent of GNP. The expanded EU is developing common foreign and defence policies, and these are starting to provide a much needed counter-weight to the global power of the US and China.

Europe loves a party, and we also love music. Centrepiece of the EU anniversary celebrations are an all-night bash in a rejuvenated Berlin,and a birthday party in Brussels where Zucchero, Axelle Red, Simply Red, Hooverphonic, Carla Bruni, The Scorpions, Helmut Lotti, Kim Wilde, Las Ketchup, Nadiya (left), Lou Bega and many others come together for an evening of rock at the Atomium. Across town, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, while some of Europe's best jazzmen will be dotted around the city performing at ‘Jazz in Europe now!’. The Jacky Terrasson Trio, Aka Moon, the 18-year-old sensation Gabor Bolla and his quartet are just some of the top bands in Brussels.

In Portugal, more than 220 'bandas' will open their concerts throughout the country by playing the Europe Anthem all at the same time. In Germany, musicians from all 27 EU countries take to the road to play in 50 German cities. Were you born on 25 March? If so, you are invited to a special concert of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Luxembourg. The EU is not new to supporting musical events. The Brxl Bravo Festival (Brussels, 2-4 March) and the European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) are just two recent examples. Most of the financial support comes from Culture 2007.

* I Am a Camera is the title of the play by Christopher Isherwood that became the hugely successful musical and film Cabaret (right). The play was based on Isherwood's Berlin novels, Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (1939). During his time in Berlin in the 1930s Isherwood lived in a tenement block in Schöneberg, which after the war was in the American Sector to the south of the Wall.

Now read about contemporary music from 1930s Berlin in Furtwängler and the forgotten new music.
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Germany’s new generation of gypsies

Gypsies are the forgotten victims of the Holocaust, and it is estimated that half a million perished under the Nazi regime. But in recent years the reshaping of political boundaries and new migrations have increased the number of Sinti and Roma living in Germany to around 70,000, though this number is only an estimate as the German government does not keep records of ethnicity. The situation is further complicated as many Roma who arrived in the 1990s from former Yugoslavia do not hold German citizenship, and hence are classified as immigrants or refugees. The powerful photograph above of a Roma family near Stuttgart comes from an excellent photo essay in Catalyst magazine, which is published by the UK Commission for Racial Equality.

Now join the Roma as they Celebrate with Saint Sarah
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Listen - fulfil!

Listen. Benedict deliberately chose this word as the beginning of his Rule. It also is the first word that strikes us when the Rule is read on January 1; and it stands as a kind of theme for every year. Benedict starts without preliminaries and addresses the person directly. The last word of this sentence forms an inclusion together with the first word: 'Listen - fulfil!' The entire verse describes this listening with its fullest sense.

Aquinata Böckmann OSB quoted in The Monastic Way, Canterbury Press ISBN 1853117579. Now follow the monastic way to Columns of plainsong soaring upwards.
Aquinata Böckmann is a member of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing, Germany. Image of Saint Benedict (detail of Crucifixion) by Fra Angelico, 1441-42, from Convento di San Marco, Florence. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

This Christmas I'll be a child again

I don't think there are any boys for whom the singing is a deep religious experience.

My mother says I was born three weeks late and that it was typical of me.

Talking one's way out of fights is a very useful skill. Once a mugger said, 'Give me your iPod' and I said, 'I'd rather not', and he said, 'Well, I'd rather not hit you', and I said, 'Oh come on', and he was a bit confused by that and then said, 'How much money have you got?', and I said 'Oh, only a couple of quid', so he thought a bit more and then walked off. Another time a chav on crutches tried to mug me.

I have a weird feeling when I look at myself or my reflection. 'How can that work?' That I exist and am conscious of myself and things move when I want them to move. It's pretty weird. My parents could have created countless different people. Yet they created me, Maud and Tolly.

The biggest cheque I've received from Westminster Abbey is £260, for the year which included various tours and the death of the Queen Mother. It's all in a high-interest account.

As you approach the end of a hymn it's like everyone in the congregation is holding their breath before they can begin coughing, sneezing, rustling or fidgeting.

Having milk or chocolate the night before a concert is not advised, because it coats the throat.

To be called a faker - faking off, faking a cold - is a big insult among chorists.

Ben the Westminster verger can always be relied upon to tell a couple of good, random, really, really bad jokes as you line up waiting in the cloisters. Like, 'How do you stop a rhino charging? Take away its credit card.'

There's a knack to carrying a candle. It basically involves a firm grip, not moving your hand around and keeping it on the exact level with the candle of the person adjacent to you.

You don't break down in tears when your voice finally breaks and you can't sing treble any more. You can stay on at school for the rest of the year and wear a different, stripy tie. And it feels cool and manly to sing down low. I'm not a bad baritone.

There's regular school choir service and local church choir this Christmas and I get to go back to Westminster Abbey, but I feel I may never be as 'famous' as I was until 14.

It's important to have a straight back, a straight neck, to look and sing up and out (never at the congregation) and to not shift your weight because the swaying is more noticeable than you think.

The best place to sing at home is in the living room, if my sister's not in there, or in my bedroom with the window open, so it has somewhere to go.

Historically the dean has all the choir schoolboys over to his house at Christmas, for murder in the dark, sardines, a treasure hunt and wrapping each other up in toilet paper as mummies. But this Christmas I'll get to be a child again at home and have a wonderful meal at Grandma's.

We had a nasty scare last year when the hospital phoned to say my grandfather was dead. But it turned out they'd made a mistake. Mother texted the message 'Grandpa not dead after all.'

I used to support QPR - but then I actually went and saw them play. (That link, and the definition of chav, is for my many US readers - Pliable.)

I was named after a Jacobite ancestor [Dr Archie Cameron] who was hung, drawn and quartered - on my birthday.

For Christmas last year my parents gave me ... hmmm ... I've forgotten. I want nothing specific this year. But if it's an Xbox 360, I'm not complaining.

Lovely Christmas piece from today's Observer. Now, as we celebrate Peace on earth, read about the German choristers from the Kreuzchor who sung in the Dresden Requiem for eleven young victims. The boys of the Kreuzchor also supply the photographs for this article.

Picture credits: Header Berliner Morgenpost, footer Dresden Kreuzchor. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple gifts – a guilt-free Christmas CD

This is the perfect guilt-free Christmas CD. Don’t worry about dumbing down - it has shed-loads of scholarship and musicianship. But don’t worry about muesli and sandals – it delivers demonstration quality sound, has all the favourite Christmas tunes you will ever need, and finishes with one of the great moments of recorded music, the recessional carol In dulci jubilo complete with organ, instrumental ensemble and a very large choir in a 12th century cathedral.

A Mass for Christmas Morning presents a selection of Michael Praetorius’ music arranged as it might have been heard in one the large churches in central Germany in the early 17th century. Praetorius was born into a strict Lutheran family, and his compositions became the musical core of the liturgy of Protestant churches in northern Germany. The Lutheran Mass uses the basic structure of the Roman mass, but with more congregational participation – which gives a great opportunity to produce a sonic spectacular.

The versatile Paul McCreesh compiled the mass and conducts. His Gabrieli Consort & Players uses authentic instruments, and include well-known singers such as Sally Dunkley. The professional artists are supplemented by the excellent Boy’s Choir and Congregational Choir of Roskilde Cathedral (my header photo shows the boys), and these choirs are supplemented in turn by local amateur forces. The recording venue is Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark which provides suitably resonant acoustics, and a perfect organ in the form of a three manual instrument dating from 1554.

The final clincher for this guilt-free Christmas purchase is the price. The recording was made by Archiv in 1994. Which means that in today’s crazy music market where the new is valued above everything else, this CD is now available for mid-price or lower – I paid £7.85 ($15.50) for mine from Caiman in Florida delivered to the UK. Don’t worry about the date of the recording. Like a fine wine this Mass for Christmas Morning simply gets better with age, but unlike claret it gets cheaper at the same time.

Now spend more time in Denmark with a Danish thread
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The act of killing from 20,000 feet

Today's Guardian reports the attempted suicide bombings at UK airports under the headline 'A plot to commit murder on an unimaginable scale'. Any attempt to take human life is abhorrent, and thank heavens the alleged plot was foiled. But let us not forget that killing on an unimaginable scale by aircraft is not the monopoly of any one ideoology.

'As German fuel supplies dwindled in the autumn of 1944 and into the final months of the war, aircraft were grounded, tanks halted, training for replacement pilots could not be maintained, and most of the new and highly effective Messerschmitt 262 jet-fighter aircraft (photo above), of which over 1,200 had been produced by the end of 1944 and which might have considerably prolonged the war, had neither fuel to fly nor trained pilots to fly them. The ME 262s were anyway extremely fuel-hungry aircraft, and those that went into action had to be towed to their end of their runways to conserve fuel, cows were used to do the towing to further save the fuel of tractors.'

On the night of 13th to 14th February 1945 RAF Bomber Command carried out two devastating raids on the city of Dresden. In all 768 aircraft dropped 2,646 tons of high explosives, incendiaries and flares. Shortly after midday on on 14th February a formation of 316 bombers returned for a third attack in which a further 782 tons were dropped. All three raids met with minimal resistance from German aircraft or anti-aircraft guns for the reasons explained above. The city was crammed with refugees fleeing from the advancing Soviet forces. The death toll from the raids will never be accurately known, but conservative estimates put it at about 25,000.

The quotation in the second paragraph is taken from Among the Dead Cities. This is a brilliantly researched and written, and deeply disturbing new analysis by philosopher A.C. Grayling of the Allied policy of 'area bombing' that led to death and destruction in Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo and many other cities. A brilliant study of one of the most complex issues of morality of modern times which concludes that the policy of area bombing was unecessary, disproportionate, and was in defiance of accepted moral standards.

In his final chapter Grayling asks: 'What is the moral difference between bombing women and children and shooting them with a pistol? Is it that when you bomb them you cannot see them - and you did not intend that particular child to die - and any way they may escape the bombing, perhaps by reaching a shelter? But if they are here against a wall just feet away from the muzzle of your pistol they cannot escape: it is more personal; you can see their eyes. Is that the difference - the anonymity of the act of killing from 20,000 feet?'

Another new addition to the Dresden literature is Firestorm, the Bombing of Dresden, 1945, edited by Paul Addison and Jeremy A. Crang (Pimlico, ISBN 184413928). This is an antholgy of contributions to the colloqium on Dresden organised by the Centre for Second World War Studies at the University of Edinburgh in 2003. Particularly noteworthy are Nicola Lambourne's chapter on the reconstruction of the city's monuments (see I am a camera - Dresden), and Alan Russell on why Dresden matters. The latter includes a survey of post-war musical activity (including Rudolph Mauersberger's scandalously neglected Dresden Requiem), and gives us a timely reminder that the first performance of Britten's War Requiem outside the UK took place in Dresden in 1965.

Related resources On An Overgrown Path include * Dead, dead, dead everywhere ... * Dresden Requiem for eleven young victims * I am a camera Dresden * The Radiance of a thousand suns *

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I am a camera - Leipzig

Creative home of Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Wagner, the setting for a scene of Goethe's Faust, birthplace of GDR dictator Walter Ulbricht and home to the dreaded Stasi secret police, victim of Allied bombing and Communist urban planning, a thriving university city with a dynamic arts scene ..... that is Leipzig. I was a camera there last weekend, here are my snapshots ...

4th March - 5.00pm
Grosser Saal, Gewandhaus
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Praeludium in F BuxWV 144
Cantata 'O wie sellig sind, die zu dem Abendmahl des Lammes berufen sind' BuxWV 90
Chorale Prelude 'Nun lob mein Seel und Wohl' BuxWV 213
Cantata 'Wie schmeckt es so lieblich und wohl' BuxWV 108
Chorale Prelude 'Nun lob mein Seel und Wohl' BuxWV 215
Chorale Prelude 'Nun lob mein Seel und Wohl' BuxWV 214
Cantata 'Lauda Sion Salvatorem' BuxWV 68
Chorale Prelude 'Vater unser im Mimmelriech' BuxWV 219
Cantata 'Pange lingua gloriosi' BuxWV 91
Merseburger Hofmusik with Michael Schönheit organ and direction
Friederike Holzhausen & Julie Koch sopranos
Annette Reinhold alto, Gotthold Schwarz bass

Johann Sebastian Bach held Dietrich Buxtehude in high esteem, and according to legend walked more than 200 miles to meet him in Lubeck, yet today Buxtehude still does not receive the recognition he deserves - I wonder why? This excellent concert underlined the importance of Buxtehude as a direct predecessor of Bach. The concert was held in the main concert hall of the Gewandhaus and alternated organ chorales with cantatas. It was a physical as well as musical feat for organist and director Michael Schönheit as he directed the cantatas from a chamber organ on the main platform, and then trotted up several flights of stairs back-stage to appear at the console of the mighty Schuke organ for the chorales, then trotted back down for the next cantata.

The Gewandhaus Hall of 1884 was reduced to ruins in a bombing raid in 1944, but the shell of the hall was kept in the hope that it could be rebuilt. But in 1968, in a spate of GDR vandalism masquerading as urban renewal, the ruins were demolished together with the University Chapel (see below) and other historic buildings to make way for the mixture of concrete cubes and towers beloved by communist urban planners. As well as the new concert hall the 34-storey Universitatschochhaus skyscraper is the legacy of this urban renewal. This new home for Leipzig University was a pet project of the then GDR dictator Walter Ulbricht, a native of Leipzig. The Universitatschochhaus is typical of the empty gestures totally lacking in any economic or aesthetic substance that started the peaceful revolution in Leipzig in 1989 described below. It is particularly appropriate that the collapse of the Communist GDR began in this city with its many connections to the despised regime, not the least of which was the headquarters of the dreaded Stasi secret police (logo above) located on the Dittrichring.

The new Gewandhaus, which opened in 1981, has a wonderful interior and acoustics, but the exterior with its 70s brutalism does not let us forget it is a product of the GDR. And I apologise for the gallows humour, but the fine Schuke organ with its array of silver pipes facing the audience reminds me of the 'Stalin organ' rocket launchers used by the Russians in the Battle of Berlin.

5th March - 9.30pm
Sunday service at St Thomas' Church (photo above) with St Thomas' Boys Choir
Johann Sebastian Bach
Motet 'Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn' BWV Anh. lll/159 with Choral BWV 421
Gunther Ramin
Chorale prelude 'Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit'
(Ramin directed music at the Thomaskirche for sixteen years from 1940, always swimming against the tide of contemporary tastes, fighting the Nazis to uphold the Christian basis of the Thomaskirche’s musical tradition and fighting the post-war socialist governing party [SED], which finally had to concede that the choir would only continue to be a source of foreign revenue if it were allowed to pursue the Bach tradition.)
Carl Philip Emanuel Bach
Adagio from Sonata in A Wq 70/4
Johann Sebastian Bach
Fugue BWV 552/2

To hear Bach's music in a liturgical context in his own church, and sung by the choir of which he was Cantor from the very organ loft where he made music for twenty-seven years is one of life's great moments. As if this was not enough the service I attended marked the twentieth anniversary of the appointment of the current organist of St Thomas', Ullrich Böhme. The service closed with him playing the great five-voice triple fugue BV 552/2 from the Clavier-Ubung lll on the new 'Bach organ' built by Gerald Woehl for the Bach 250th anniversary year of 2000 - Rarely, rarely comest thou, Spirit of Delight!

J.S. Bach became Cantor of St Thomas' and Musikdirector of Leipzig in 1723, and worked in the city until his death in 1750. (His predecesor as Cantor was the little known Johann Kuhnau who I wrote about recently.) During his period in Leipzig Bach composed many of the masterpieces of Western music including the St Matthew and St John Passions, the B minor Mass, the Christmas Oratorio, the Art of Fugue and the Clavier-Ubung lll.

The history of the four churches in Leipzig in which Bach worked is closely associated with the turbulent politics of the 20th century. His teaching appointment was at St Thomas', and this historic church has thankfully survived, with the famous statue in my heading photo standing outside. The 15th century triptych altar (photo above) by an anonymous artist was moved to the church when the University Church of St Paul, with which Bach was also associated, was destroyed in 1968 by the GDR redevelopment described above, also lost was the organ there on which Bach often performed. The specification and casing of the new 'Bach organ' in St Thomas' were built to resemble the instrument in the University Church.

St Thomas' contains Bach's mortal remains. They were moved there from their previous resting place in another of his churches, St John's, which was totally destroyed in World War ll. My photo below shows the simple black stone that marks the final resting place of the composer that Max Reger described as the beginning and end point of all music.

We can rejoice that St Thomas' survives while sadly the University Church of St Paul and the church of St John's are no more. Also surviving is the fourth church closely linked to Bach, the Nicolai Church. This is famous as the venue for the first performance of the St John Passion. But today Nicolai Church is best known for the the candle-lit vigils and demonstrations that started there in 1989 before gathering momentum to become the Wende, the peaceful revolution that toppled the Communist dictatorship, and opened the door to the elections that led to German re-unification in 1990. The truly inspirational story of these events is best told by the Rev. C. Führer of the Nicolai Church:

'From 8 May 1989, the driveways to the church were blocked by the police. Later the driveways and motorway exits were subject to large-scale checks or even closed during the prayers-for-peace period. The state authorities exerted greater pressure on us to cancel the peace prayers or at least to transfer them to the city limits. Monday after monday there were arrests or "temporary detentions" in connection with the peace prayers. Even so, the number of visitors flocking to the church continued to grow to a point where the 2.000 seats were no longer sufficient. Then came the all-deciding 9 October 1989. And what a day it was!

There was a hideous show of force by soldiers, industrial militia, police and plain-clothes officers. But the opening scene had taken place two days before on 7 October, the 40th anniversary of the GDR, which entered into GDR history as Remembrance Day. On this day, for 10 long hours, uniformed police battered defenceless people who made no attempt to fight back and took them away in trucks. Hundreds of them were locked up in stables in Markkleeberg. In due course, an article was published in the press saying that it was high time to put an end to what they called "counter-revolution, if necessary by armed forces". That was the situation like on 9 October 1989.

Moreover, some 1.000 SED party (logo above) members had been ordered to go to the St. Nicholas Church. 600 of them had already filled up the church nave by 2 p.m. They had a job to perform like the numerous Stasi personnel who were on hand regularly at the peace prayers. What has not been considered was the fact, that these people were exposed to the word, the gospel and its impact!

Thus, the prayers for peace took place in unbelievable calm and concentration (see press photo from dhm.de below). Shortly before the end, before the bishop gave his blessing, appeals by Professor Masur, chief conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and others who supported our call for non-violence, were read out. The solidarity between church and art, music and the gospel was of importance in the threatening situation of those days. The prayers for peace ended with the bishop's blessing and the urgent call for non-violence. More than 2.000 people leaving the church were welcomed by ten thousands waiting outside with candles in their hands - an unforgettable moment. Two hands are necessary to carry a candle and to protect it from extinguishing so that you can not carry stones or clubs at the same time. The miracle occurred.

Troops, (military) brigade groups and the police were drawn in, became engaged in conversations, then withdrew. It was an evening in the spirit of our Lord Jesus for there were no winners and no defeated, nobody triumphed over the other, nobody lost his face. There was just a tremendous feeling of relief. This non-violent movement only lasted a few weeks. But it caused the party and ideological dictatorship to collapse. Horst Sindermann, who was a member of the Central Committee of the GDR, said before his death: "We had planned everything. We were prepared for everything. But not for candles and prayers".'

Political awareness remains high in Leipzig, and my photo below is of a candle-lit vigil for political prisoners that was taking place while we were there this week.

5th March - 4.00pm
Mendelssohn Haus, Goldscmidstrasse
Georg Philipp Telemann - Sonatine in G for violin and bass continuo (1718)
Arcangelo Corelli - Sonata Vll for violin and bass continuo Op 5 (1700)
Jean-Philipp Rameau - Suite in A from Premier livre de clavecin (1705/06)
Johann Hermann Schein - Sixth suite in A from 'Banchetto musicale' (1617)
Georg Philipp Telemann - Sonata Nr 5 in E from 'Sonate metodiche' (1617)
Johann Sebastian Bach - Invention from Sinfonia for Harpsichord (1723)
Georg Friedrich Handel - Sonata in A Op 1 Nr 3 for violin and bass continuo
Kristina Gerlach, baroque violin and Christian Hornef, harpsichord

Finally to remind us of the many other musicians associated with this most musical of cities a recital at the Mendelssohn House, the Biedermeier dwelling of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in the last years of his life. Mendelssohn was Kapellmeister at the Gewandhaus, and in 1829 directed a pioneering performance of the St. Matthew Passion at the Berlin Singakademie, and is commemorated as a champion of Bach in a stained-glass window in St Thomas'. Hearing this programme of exquisite chamber music in the very rooms in which Mendelssohn lived was an appropriate end to an unforgetable weekend.

CDs bought in Leipzig:
J.S.Bach - Leipzig Chorales played on the 'Bach organ' in St Thomas' by Almut Rossler, Motette DCD 13151 - pure digital magic!
Bach und die Romantik - music for organ, chorus and harp from composers ranging from Desprez and Palestrina, through Bach to Britten and Erhard Mauersberger (brother of Dresden Requiem composer Rudolf Mauersberger, a fine composer in his own right) sung by the Dresden based vocal ensemble Die VokalRomantiker whose members include former choristers from the Dresden Kreuzchor and St Thomas' in Leipzig. This is the group's fifth 'concept' CD and it is very well worth getting hold of, programmers for PSB stations will find it particularly rewarding, Querstand VKJK 0509.
Mendelssohn Choral Works - 10 CDs for €25 another Brilliant bargain with the Chamber Choir of Europe directed by Nicol Matt, Brilliant Classics 99997.
Salvatore Sacco - Missa 1607, Templum Musicae directed by Vincenzo Di Donato, a wonderful early 17th century Mass from this little known pupil of Palestrina on the Carus label which brought us Mauerberger's Dresden Requiem, Carus 83.191.
Buxtehude - not purchased in Leipzig but worth noting is Francis Jacob's excellent Pièces pour Orgue which offers a selection of Buxtehude's chorales for organ and voice, released on the enterprising Zig-Zag Territoires label which also brought us Jacob's Clavier-übung III.

More small print ... the practical details - we flew London Stansted to Altenburg (Leipzig) with Ryanair. Altenburg is best known for the 1739 Trost organ in the Palace Church which was audited by Bach. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, Garden Court in Leipzig using a very good deal via Lastminute.com. We also visited Zwickau, Schumann's birthplace, but that is another article .... All photos taken by Pliable on Casio EX - Z120 digital camera, (C) On An Overgrown Path. Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Related resources On An Overgrown Path include * I am a camera - Dresden * I am a camera - Berlin * A Passion for Bach * Gentlemen, old Bach is here * Mortal defeat for the mob in Paris * Dresden requiem for eleven young victims * Karl Richter in Munich *