Description
Title: August 4 1964
Artist: Jaap van Zweden
Label: Dso Live
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 844667029048
Genre: Classical
Release Date: 2012-06-26
Number of Discs: 1
A world premiere recording of Stucky”s August 4, 1964, a “”secular oratorio”” commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to honor the 100th Anniversary of LBJ”s birth. The work centers on a single day in the Johnson Presidency when President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara decided to escalate the Vietnam conflict, and when the bodies of 3 slain civil rights workers were discovered in Mississippi. The libretto by Gene Scheer (Jake Heggie”s Moby Dick; Tobias Picker”s An American Tragedy) juxtaposes White House telephone tapes, letters from the slain civil rights workers and their mothers, speeches by President Johnson, and other contemporary sources. Stucky”s music heightens the gripping narrative, which pulses with contemporary relevance.
Tracks:
1.1 The Saddest Moment
1.2 Historians
1.3 Oval Office I
1.4 I Wish to Be a Part of That Fight
1.5 The Secret Heart of America
1.6 Oval Office II
1.7 Elegy
1.8 Letter from Mississippi
1.9 Oval Office III
1.10 August Fourth
1.11 Had We Known
1.12 What Is Precious Is Never to Forget
Audio Sample:
All soundclips are provided by Tidal and are for illustrative purposes only. For some releases, the tracks listed may not accurately represent the tracks on the physical release.
