In Terra Pax Konzert 1

Dona Nobis Pacem - from the Symphonie Liturgique, Arthur Honegger

Kol Nidrei - Max Bruch

Song of a German Mother - Hanns Eisler

Impuls - Thoughts on peace - Christian Nell-Wunsch

In Terra Pax - Frank Martin, Oratorio Breve for 5 vocal soloists, 2 choirs and orchestra

Performers:

Lavinia Dames - soprano, Christine Hoffmann - alto, Cornel Frey - tenor, William Drakett - baritone, George Clark- bass

Heinrich-Heine-Symphoniker, Klaudio Zoto - Cello, TAO-Chor Düsseldorf e.V., Choir of the Kantorei an der Stephanuskirche

Conducted by Markus Maczewski and Federico Ferrari

About In Terra Pax

The liberation of Europe from Nazi rule was already in sight after the Allied landings when Frank Martin was commissioned to compose a vocal work by the director of Radio Geneva in July 1944. The work was to be broadcast on the day of a foreseeable armistice. Under enormous time pressure, Martin composed the oratorio "In Terra Pax" in French and German in just three months. After the German surrender, the work was premiered on the radio on May 7, 1945. The oratorio, composed from biblical texts, makes the horrors of war, the fear of the people and the joy of the end of the war audible in an impressive way.

Quote from the composer:

"I don't think that while I was composing this oratorio I ever had any illusions about the kind of peace that would follow the end of the war. But this lack of illusion could not prevent me from trying to express the transition from deepest despair to hope for a bright future... But this demand is so high that its general realization on earth is inconceivable without the miracle of a complete transformation of human thought and feeling..." Frank Martin