In August 1945 atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Around 120,000 people, of which 95% were civilians, were killed outright. It is estimated that a further quarter of a million died from the after effects of the explosions. Six days after the second bomb was dropped Japan surrendered unconditionally, removing the requirement for an invasion of the Japanese mainland by Allied forces , an engagement that would undoubtedly have resulted in dreadful casualties on both sides. Hopefully the music community, as well as the world, will remember 2005 as the sixtieth anniversary of these terrible events, as well as the year of the premiere of an opera by John Adams . My attempts to understand the almost incomprehensible events of 1945 led me to the recently published 109 East Palace by Jennet Conant . This is the story of the extraordinary secret community of allied scientists at Los Alamos in New Mexico that, in a race against the clock, created the t
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Like you, I too can't find it online. It is a photo feature so they may not make it available on the web because of bandwidth considerations.
It is a fairly shallow 'toys for boys' feature they run each week. If you are a Terry Pratchett fan you haven't missed much by not reading it. There is little in it apart from the rather neat Tallis quote.
For me the highlight was The Sixteen's late night Prom, see this post which was quite outstanding.
One problem of course with Spem is the forces required. Which is why Antony Pitts' new work XL is so interesting, see this post.
Although the Tallis and Tippett anniversaries have justifiably grabbed attention this year it has meant that Obrecht has been overlooked in his anniversary year, something I hope to rectify shortly.
And talking of Tallis do you know Antoine Brumel's Missa "Et ecce terraemotus" (Earthquake Mass). If you like Spem you'll love it. And the great news is that it is on a stunning super budget release from Brilliant Classics, see this post.