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Women's Words and Voices

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales perform from their home, Hoddinott Hall in the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, under the baton of one of the world's most exciting young conductors, Marta Gardolinska. The concert opens fittingly with Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz's Overture for orchestra. Bacewicz was a trailblazer in early 20th-century music, a celebrated female composer who wrote the work in 1943 when her country was under Nazi occupation. The sense of struggle and combat is heard within the piece with the opening rumble of the timpani, the beat of the snare drum and the brass instruments playing fanfares. The work also contains a musical message of hope, with the Morse code for the letter V, dot-dot-dot-dash, beaten out on the timpani, symbolising victory.

English
  • Originally Aired May 22, 2022
  • Runtime 60 minutes
  • Network BBC Four
  • Created May 23, 2022 by
    richdruitt
  • Modified March 28, 2023 by
    philh001