(Eighth Season)
(To be given before an audience in the Concert Hall, Broadcasting
House)
Cris du Monde
ARTHUR HONEGGER
Poem by RENÉ BIZET
English Version by EDWARD AGATE
KATE WINTER (Soprano)
BETTY BANNERMAN (Contralto)
HAROLD WILLIAMS (Baritone)
THE WIRELESS CHORUS
(Section B)
THE B.B.C. ORCHESTRA
(Section D)
(Led by LAURANCE TURNER )
Conducted by ADRIAN BOULT
Cris du Monde (The Cries of the World), is
Arthur Honegger s biggest essay in musical pictorialism. It is a setting of a poem by Rene Bizet , the argument of which runs as follows : ' Driven by the desire to gain true knowledge of himself, man craves for solitude and silence, relief from the myriad cries of the world.
' But, from day to day, restlessness of earth forbids him a moment's meditation.
' When he wakes, he strives in vain to fashion the song of himself; the noise of the factories, the cries of his brothers in distress, the calls of workmen, and the shouts of warriors in defence of their country; the entreaties of the sea, and the mountains, the voices of space, the invitations of unknown cities-each and all prevent him from expressing that which lies in the depths of his being.
' Night itself, which should bring peace to heaven and earth, is filled afresh with new sounds, new cries, as clamorous and as urgent as those of the day about to dawn.
' And so his captive voice is ever silent'.
(An article on this work appears on page 805.)