help put a name to a piece of classical music

Poststructural Pub
1

I heard part of “Five Days, Five nights” by Dmitri Shostakovich on the radio the other night and it reminded me of a score I had heard at a cocert when I was in high school.

Similar to Five days, Five nights it was about the bombing of Dresden during WWII. The orchestration however was very different. I remember it being very moving and vivid since the various instruments played different roles that were not neccessarily musical. The bass section (tubas) were playing a drone that represented the bombers overhead. The flutes or piccalos played the high whine of incoming bombs etc. on top of the music. It stayed in my mind because the person I went to the concert with was a veteran and at the end he had tears in his eyes. It was also a physically powerfull piece.

I had totally forgoten the name of the piece and if anyone has any ideas on what it may have been please post or leave me a PM. The main local library has a very complete collection and should have it or can get it so I can check out suggestions and see if they were correct.

Any help appreciated.


Mark V.

2

I remember that piece. The firebombing of dresden. But I don’t remember what it was called.

3

Dresden in Memoriam?
by Dan Bukvich?

4

Sounds better than “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima,” which was all i could come up with. Wrong city, right war, yet another horror … sigh.

5

Yeah… I’m pretty sure I played the piece you’re thinking of in high school. Lots of unusual notation we had to figure out and such. But very moving. A little Googling turned up this: Symphony No. 1 (In Memoriam, Dresden, 1945).

6

That’s the one. Thanks Cai!

Not quite as melodic as I remembered it, but that is the symphony in question. Even a MP3 at the bottom of the page.

Mark V.