Hiroshima dome

#4398: Commemorating Hiroshima

New Sounds | Aug 6, 2024

For the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, hear music from John Adams’ opera Doctor Atomic depicting the first ever nuclear bomb test conducted by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and music by English composer/violist/arranger/producer Jocelyn Pook which uses elements of a Yemeni Jewish lament and the Latin requiem mass.

Also, listen to music written to commemorate the occasion, including the late Japanese composer Toshiya Sukegawa's 'the eternal morning 1945.8.6,' which uses a ruined piano from the site, and features the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra. There’s also music for singing bowl and shakuhachi by Raphael Mostel in the work, Swiftly, How Swiftly… performed in front of the mass burial site, Peace Park, in Hiroshima, Japan. 

Plus, hear a portion of Hiroshima Maiden, the Obie Award-winning musical score by cellist, vocalist, and composer Robert Een for Dan Hurlin’s puppet/theater piece. The work takes its title from the group of young Japanese women who were disfigured by the effects of the atomic blast and brought to the very country that dropped the bomb for 1950’s “state of the art” plastic surgery.

Program #4398, anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima (First aired 8/6/2020)

ARTIST: Jocelyn Pook
WORK: Oppenheimer [6:41]
RECORDING: Flood
SOURCE: EMI / Venture Records - #8481502
INFO: Available at Amazon.com 

ARTIST: BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; Cond. John Adams
WORK: Doctor Atomic, Act II, Scene 3: Chorus - "At the sight of this" [4:39]
RECORDING: John Adams: Doctor Atomic
SOURCE: Nonesuch
INFO: nonesuch.com

ARTIST: BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; Cond. John Adams
WORK: Doctor Atomic, Act II, Scene 4: "Zero minus two minutes" (with Gerald Finley) [1:03]
RECORDING: John Adams: Doctor Atomic
SOURCE: Nonesuch
INFO: nonesuch.com

ARTIST: BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; Cond. John Adams
WORK: Doctor Atomic, Act II, Scene 4: Countdown [6:05]
RECORDING: John Adams: Doctor Atomic
SOURCE: Nonesuch
INFO: nonesuch.com

ARTIST: Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra; cond. Hideomi Kuroiwa; Gen-ichiro Murakami (piano)
WORK: Toshiya Sukegawa : The Eternal Morning 1945.8.6 [19:53]
RECORDING: Music from Six Continents, 1992 Series
SOURCE: Vienna Music Masters #3006
INFO: Available at Presto Music  

ARTIST: Raphael Mostel and Tibetan Singing Bowl Ensemble
WORK: Swiftly, How Swiftly: IV. Swiftly, How Swiftly [5:05]
RECORDING: Blood on the Moon
SOURCE: Digital Fossils #10009
INFO: mostel.com

ARTIST: Jeff Berman and Bill Ruyle
WORK: Robert Een: Hiroshima Maiden - Broken Waltz [3:12]
RECORDING: Robert Een: Hiroshima Maiden
SOURCE: Innova 679
INFO: https://www.innova.mu/albums/robert-een/hiroshima-maiden

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