No Sounds Are Forbidden - Episode 10 – Soir d’Hiver: The Spectacular Modernist Christmas Spectacular!

No Sounds Are Forbidden is back with its tenth episode. Musicologist Jill Rogers (University College Cork) joins host Matthew Friedman for a holiday special exploring how modernist and avant-garde composers have marked Christmas in their music since the early 20th century. Whether mobilizing patriotic sentiment in 1914, or trying to find a space for the sacred in the rubble of war, and the shadow of the Holocaust, modernist and avant-garde composers of the 20th century reflected the often dark, always complicated spirit of their times, while marking a season of contemplation and the promise of redemption.

This episode features music by Claude Debussy, Nadia Boulanger, Benjamin Britten, Krzysztof Penderecki, Francis Poulenc, and Peter Maxwell Davies.

Listen to the full episode.

Credits:

No Sounds Are Forbidden is written and produced by Matthew Friedman at Cat Tango Studios in Jersey City, NJ. Visit the companion site for No Sounds Are Forbidden for additional information, content, and playlists.