Memorial in Song with John Brancy and Peter Dugan

May 27, 2023, 4:00 pm

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John Brancy and Peter Dugan
John Brancy and Peter Dugan (Photo: Michael DiVito)

A program for Memorial Day to honor those whose lives have been forever changed by war, including songs written by composers and poets who were soldiers themselves. Much of the music comes from the WWI-era, when the world was confronted with modern warfare for the very first time. The program is co-hosted and performed by Grammy-winning baritone John Brancy and Peter Dugan, pianist and host of NPR’s From the Top, with testimonials from cultural historians and war veterans.

Selections come from the critically acclaimed album A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song and the new release The Journey Home: Live from the Kennedy Center on Avie Records.

John Brancy and Peter Dugan perform Gerald Finzi’s Channel Firing.

Playlist

*Indicates a composer who served in WWI

Oley Speaks: “When the Boys Come Home”
Ralph Vaughan Williams*: “Youth and Love” from Songs of Travel
George Butterworth*: “The Lads in Their Hundreds” from A Shropshire Lad
Igor Novello* (arr. Dugan/Brancy): “Keep the Homefires Burning”
Walter Donaldson (arr. Dugan/Brancy): “My Buddy”
Wilfred Sanderson: “God Be with Our Boys Tonight”
Charles Ives: “Tom Sails Away”
Leonardo Dugan: “In Flanders Fields”
Maurice Ravel*: Toccata from Le Tombeau de Couperin
Claude Debussy: “Noel des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons”
Sergei Rachmaninoff: “How fair this spot”
Sergei Rachmaninoff: “Spring Waters”
Irving Berlin*: “Goodbye France”
Trad. (arr. Dugan/Brancy): “Danny Boy”