Relive the voices, the battles at war’s end

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 14

Relive the voices, the battles at war’s end

By

ALLAN FRANCIS

VICTORY IN EUROPE 1945. Original Recording from 8.8. C. Sound Archives. WORLD RECORD CLUB WH 9793.

For those born since 1945, the events of that year are pages in the history book; others who

lived at the time were seeing history made. It was the beginning of the end, not only of World War 11, but also of the old social order.

This recording marks the progress of the last days of the war. It follows the rampage of the Allied troops through France and into Germany as heard on crackly radios in the forties. The crackle has mostly disappeared, but the atmosphere remains. It is launched with Field Marshal Montgomery’s cry for the advance into Germany, dodges the famous landing at Normandy, continues with the United States’ army crossing the -Rhine in March 1945 and traces the entire onslaught from that time through the next two critical months. Most of the 8.8. C. commentators of the day place these events before the public; some give the facts, others analyse what has happened. Once again, Wynford Vaughan Thomas, Richard Dimbleby and John Snagge reflect on the flush of victory and how it came about.

It is still stirring; there is little magnification of the steps in the drama. No tape recorders were used, only portable record machines with direct cutting onto discs. Few shots are fired, and then only as punctuation between the talks. The sounds of Big Ben make one or two emotional entrances. The material concerns of the day centre around "fullyfashioned silk stockings” and Montgomery pays tribute to the “good and faithful servant.” The main theme of all conversation is the “cause of freedom,” but Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) now appears to be more factual than in 1945.

The horror of Belsch and Buchholz is recalled and the elation of victory is honoured in several speeches by Churchill, King George, Montgomery and Truman.

Sir Edward Elgar makes a significant contribution to the ceremony in his usual manner, that

immortal tune “Land of Hope and Glory,” and the occasion finishes with a flourish. It is an impressive record of events, perhaps the most significant of the twentieth century. MARY SMITH. Unaccompanied Gaelic folksongs from the Hebrides. KIWI PACIFIC TRL 034. It may sound foreign to the uninitiated, but it is Gaelic and the words are provided. It is a brave venture of place on record 30 traditional songs that rely entirely on the art of the singer. It may also seem strange at first that one by the name of Smith undertakes the project. By what right, some might ask? It is also a fact that Smith is the predominant name in Scotland, as it is in England and other places. Mary Smith is a native of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, well qualified for the task which is clearly a specialist one. Gaelic, the people’s first language, is a soft, lilting tongue derived from old Irish. Another certainty is that more than 90 per cent of listeners will need the translation sheet. Some Scottish, like some French, is readily translatable into pidgin English, but these songs are beyond the reach of amateur translators.

It is a fine work of art to produce these songs, treated with sensitivity, so that the end result is pungently atmospheric. The lyrics have a charm that might have been lost for most without the translation sheet, telling of a life and times far removed from twentieth century superficialities.

It is not an easy task to appreciate all the finer points of this selection, but those already in the idiom will need little persuasion.