蜜芽传媒

The poets of the Great War tried to fill the landscape with sounds. 鈥淭he shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells,鈥� wrote Wilfred Owen, 鈥渢he stuttering rifles' rapid rattle鈥�. The poems of Robert Graves are heavy with the moans of the dying, the sounds of slaughter.

But mostly, they fell short. Graves said: 鈥淵ou can't communicate noise. Noise never stopped for one moment 鈥� ever.鈥� The sonic landscape changed beyond recognition during the war years. Artillery from the Western Front could be heard continually across the South East coast of England. Listening changed too, as noise became vital information, a matter of life or death.

And yet, beyond this assault on the ears, this battering of the senses, an extraordinary beauty emerged in the music of the war period. Works by Howells, Gurney, Bridge, Coles and Butterworth (above) draw on folk songs, farmland, the pre-industrial era. Their music embraced heroism, courage, grief, patriotism, tragedy.

George Butterworth died in August 1916, aged 31.

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by 蜜芽传媒 Radio 3鈥檚 Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a 蜜芽传媒 season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This 蜜芽传媒 archive recording is by the 蜜芽传媒 Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sakari Oramo.

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