Radio 3 in Concert

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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Music: Classical

The best concerts from across the UK and Europe. Available to listen online for 30 days

Experience the best concerts from across the UK and Europe. Available to listen online for 30 days

Radio 3 in Concert: Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis

Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis

BBC Radio 3 - Radio 3 in Concert, Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis

The BBC SO perform Ullmann and other music from the Nazi ghetto of Theresienstadt.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra perform Viktor Ullmann's darkly satirical opera and orchestral works by Krasa, Haas, and Schulhoff – composers from the Nazis' Theresienstadt ghetto.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra's Total Immersion 'Music for the End of Time' in January this year centred its focus on the Theresienstadt ghetto of the 1940s. Here many of the finest musical talents of the time were held pawns in an appalling Nazi propaganda exercise, then taken to the concentration camps from which they never returned.

In a second broadcast from that day the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with a fine cast, perform Viktor Ullmann's parody of fascism, the chamber opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis [Plot summary below]. Before this come more  musical testaments from Theresienstadt by Hans Krása and Pavel Haas,  and a searing symphony by Erwin Schulhoff that warns of impending human catastrophe.

Presented by Georgia Mann 
Recorded at the Barbican on 23rd January 2022


Hans Krasa: Overture for small orchestra
Pavel Haas: Study for string orchestra
Ervin Schulhoff: Symphony no. 5

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Alpesh Chauhan (conductor)


Viktor Ullmann: Der Kaiser von Atlantis - legend in 4 scenes Op.49b

The Kaiser ..... Thomas Johannes (baritone)
Loudspeaker ..... Derrick Ballard (bass baritone)
A Soldier ..... Oliver Johnston (tenor)
Pierrot ..... Robert Murray (tenor)
A Maiden ..... Soraya Mafi (soprano)
Death ..... Henry Waddington (bass)
Drummer Girl ..... Hanna Hipp (mezzo-soprano)
Kenneth Richardson  (Director)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Josep Pons (Conductor)

Plot of Der Kaiser von Atlantis: set in mythical times, centres on the desire and determination of Emperor Overall to rule over the whole world. In the first scene, the Emperor proclaims a universal war, conducting his campaign via a loudspeaker and conscripting his old ally Death to the cause. But Death denounces the Emperor for usurping his role and refuses to participate in the slaughter by stating unequivocally that people cannot die. The Emperor is shocked by Death’s response and in particular by his refusal to carry out executions. In Scene 2 a mysterious epidemic breaks out. Yet, although many people are mortally wounded, nobody is able to die. The next scene takes place on the battlefield, but the conflict of arms brings about a completely unexpected result. Instead of fighting each other, a male soldier and a female soldier sing a love duet. With the final scene we return to the empty palace where the Emperor is sitting alone. He is becoming increasingly alarmed by the reports of the chaos ravaging the country and that the sick and suffering are unable to die. In desperation, he looks in the mirror and sees Death reflected there. Death is now prepared to resume his work, but on the condition that the Emperor agrees to be his first victim. After some initial resistance, the Emperor accepts Death’s invitation and is then led away.


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