OST/HAAGE, ULRIKE - Berlin 1945 - Tagebuch Einer Grossstadt (Sealed) (2CD)

Berlin 1945 The Second World War returns to its origins. The documentary film of the same name by Volker Heise is based on diary entries and documents from and memories of the year 1945 in Berlin. Combined with photos and films from the time, they set off a many-voiced chorus of eyewitnesses who report directly on the events. Each voice tells from its own perspective: Red Army soldiers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht, Jews in hiding and devout National Socialists, life-hungry teenagers and disappointed Hitler Youth, overtaxed doctors and forced labourers from all over Europe. This creates the contradictory image of a torn city that has plunged into a disaster that still has an impact today. Ulrike Haage composed music for Berlin in 1945 that was reduced to the essentials, yet still had an incredibly dense atmosphere. Modestly and sometimes broken down to a few tones, it lies beneath the pictures, the documents, the spoken diary entries - and yet it gives them a power and liveliness that is sometimes difficult to bear. A music of great tenderness and always on the side of the victims. Berlin 1945, according to the S?ddeutsche Zeitung after its first broadcast, is a film that is definitely worth seeing. An "immensely touching experience", the Frankfurter Rundschau found. And that, one might add, is especially true of the music Ulrike Haage composed for this film, which has now been released as a double CD.