Saturday 8 August 2020

Nagasaki August 8th/9th 1945

I am almost convinced that the destruction of Hiroshima was necessary to bring an end to the world war in the East. However, there was surely no need to obliterate Nagasaki, the charming, most European-facing of Japanese cities. The writer of this New Yorker article seems to agree.

One trusts that Schnittke's oratorio would have been performed on this day in the Royal Albert Hall (as it was in 2009) if the Covid-19 emergency had not intervened.  Perhaps next year?

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