Forum des auditeurs passionnés et critiques de France Culture

En 2021, la station  de la BBC diffusant les archives, Radio 4 Extra, a proposé une adaptation de 1990 de  Madame de Treymes d'Edith Wharton. La fiction est restée un mois en ligne et est donc indisponible, sauf sur l'indispensable bibliothèque Archive.org à l'adresse Edith Wharton: A BBC Radio Drama Collection.

C'est une belle interprétation que nous avons là dans la ligne des réalisations des années 1970 à 2000 produites par de grandes radios publiques (BBC, ARD, Radio France). Il n'est pas difficile de faire des hypothèses sur la différence de qualité entre les fictions réalisées dans ces années-là et celles créées depuis 2000. Le changement porte sur la formation des acteurs, le soin apporté aux fictions, l'attention portée à la littérature et au théâtre, l'influence de la télévision, l'importance des effets sonores, la diction et les voix (les hauteurs), sans parler des conditions techniques d'enregistrement et de diffusion (la compression, par exemple).

John Durham's fight for the woman he loves sparks a confrontation with a powerful and devious French family.
Anna Massey stars in Edith Wharton’s novella first published in 1907.
Dramatised by John Peacock.
Christiane de Treymes ...... Anna Massey
John Durham ...... Philip Voss
Narrator ...... Valerie Sarruf
Fanny ...... Gwen Humble
Mrs Humble ...... Auriol Smith
Nanny ...... Jane Whittenshaw
Katey ...... Tara Dominick
Bessie Boykin ...... Elizabeth Kelly
Elmer Boykin ...... James Greene
Director: Jane Morgan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1990 (58 min.)

Analysis of Edith Wharton’s Madame de Treymes By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 29, 2021.

Published in the August 1907 issue of Scribner’s magazine and in book form the following February, this novella exhibits Edith Wharton’s subtle realism and is one of her works depicting Americans in France.

It tells of Fanny de Malrive, née Frisbee, a once-free-spirited New Yorker now married to a French marquis. Like several of Wharton’s female protagonists, Fanny is trapped in an unhappy marriage and constricted by the “sacred institutions” of the Parisian Faubourg St-Germain aristocracy.

Estranged from her dissolute husband, she has fallen in love with John Durham, a friend from her New York youth. She hopes to marry Durham and return to America, but she fears that her Catholic husband will refuse a divorce and that he may claim custody of their son, the heir to the family title (...).

Moins de sept ans après son unique diffusion sur Radio 3, retour sur la série ''Birth of Polyphony'' dans l'émission Composer of the Week de Donald Macleod avec le premier numéro de cinq : Hildegard of Bingen Mon 31 Jul 2017. Un numéro fort instructif à maints égards. Traductions des textes latins avant leur interprétation, vie de l'abbesse, désaccord avec Abélard, création de remèdes avec des plantes médicinales mais aussi avec des animaux tués pour la circonstance (crapauds, alouettes).

Donald Macleod se fait impeccable historien dans une émission montée avec grand soin. L'émission est restée 4 semaines en ligne en août 2017, mais par la grâce du site archive.org, on peut la retrouver via ce lien : Composer of the Week : BBC Radio 3 : July 31, 2017.

D'autres émissions sur la compositrice ont été diffusées sur les radios culturelles ces dernières années, notamment à France Musique, par Anne-Charlotte Rémond dans Musicopolis.

Donald Macleod begins this week by looking at the life and music one of the most celebrated women composers of the middle ages: Hildegard of Bingen.

The transition from pure monophony to complex polyphony was a gradual one. It is argued that polyphony was never entirely absent from European music-making; nor did monophony suddenly go out of fashion. Nevertheless, a fascinating development can be traced between the 12th and 14th centuries, with new musical forms, new rhythmic modes, and new methods of musical notation.

Thanks to recordings in recent decades the abbess Hildegard has been propelled from obscurity into the canon of women composers. She not only composed the Latin words for which she supplied the melodies - she also ran her own monastery, designed the eccentric outfits for her high-born nuns, and wrote on a variety of subjects, from visions to the practical uses of birds, beasts and trees.

Vu la biographie de l'abbesse, ne pourrait-elle pas être qualifiée, par France Culture, bien sûr, de précurseur de "l'écoféminisme" ? Voir l'intégralité du billet ci-dessous en cliquant sur "ce message" ↓

Curly(https://regardfc.1fr1.net/t216p410-temps-qui-courent-et-ex-emissions-de-marie-richeux#39653) a écrit:tiens tiens, l'écoféminisme, intéressant miam miam tout ça.
Alors,

Figure 3. L'écoféminisme.

                                  (...)

Hymn O ignee spiritus Anonymous 4

O cohors milite floris Oxford Camerata

Deuxième épisode de ''Birth of Polyphony '' : The School of Notre Dame. Pour le 1er épisode, voir ci-dessus billet 972.

Comme mentionné  ci-dessus, l'émission de 2017 n’est plus en ligne sur le site de la BBC, mais peut s'écouter sur le site archive.org : Composer of the Week : BBC Radio 3 : August 01, 2017.

Donald Macleod poursuit son parcours historique et musicologique. La fin de l'émission est consacrée à la construction de Notre-Dame de Paris et la musique qui y fut jouée. Programme remarquable à tous égards.

2e pièce au programme :


The Earliest Piece of Poliphonic Music | Palma Choralis

A new cathedral calls for a new type of music. Donald Macleod considers the place of Notre Dame and the composers Leonin and Perotin in the story of polyphony.

The transition from pure monophony to complex polyphony was a gradual one. It is argued that polyphony was never entirely absent from European music-making; nor did monophony suddenly go out of fashion. Nevertheless, a fascinating development can be traced between the 12th and 14th centuries, with new musical forms, new rhythmic modes, and new methods of musical notation.

In today's episode Donald discusses the earliest piece of true polyphony ever discovered, and the the story of Paris's ambitious new cathedral, Notre Dame. Contemporaneous with construction of this mighty edifice we find compositions for two, and subsequently three or four voices. Not only that, we also have names for two of these composers: Leoninus (Leonin) and Perotinus (Perotin). But the line between composition and improvisation is still as indistinct as the lighting in the new building. And it's likely that polyphony was for special occasions only - such as the riotous Feast of Fools. Polyphony seems to have been deployed as a kind of crowd control, to avoid the lewd excesses of this particular occasion!

Dernière pièce au programme :


Sederunt principes - Pérotin (1/2)


Sederunt principes - Pérotin (2/2)

Inside Music  : voici une émission que l'on regrettera. Elle a été supprimée sans explication par la direction de BBC Radio 3 dans le cadre d'une réforme qui transforme la radio en média d'émissions en direct où l'on envoie des extraits de CD. Évolution anti-culturelle. Dans le numéro Bassoonist Sarah Burnett with mystery, metronomes and mutes [Sat 8 Apr 2023] on entend ce que France Musique et Radio 3 ne veulent plus offrir : des analyses musicales faites par des musiciens, conçues en interne ou bien réalisées par des maisons de production de qualité.  

Sarah Burnett is Principal Bassoon with the Britten Sinfonia and the London Mozart Players. Her choices today range from a choral piece by Tomás Luis de Victoria whose harmony reflects a mysterious birth to an energetic piece by Jörg Widmann intended to be played at a very particular speed.

The bassoon features in various guises, with music showcasing Sophie Dervaux’s beautiful tone at the upper end of the instrument, Sergio Azzolini’s mastery of the baroque bassoon, and the instrument sitting alongside its wind colleagues in Poulenc’s witty Sextet for piano and winds.

There’s also a scene from an opera, Mahler at his most heartbreakingly beautiful, and Duke Ellington teaches us how to swing…

A series in which each week a musician explores a selection of music - from the inside.
A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3

La première pièce au programme (la liste indiquée mentionne à tort les deux premiers titres non diffusés) :



À Chloris (Arr. for Bassoon and Piano)


Et la version originale : À Chloris

Composer of the Week, ''Birth of Polyphony'' Episode 3 of 5 : Troubadours and Trouveres Wed 2 Aug 2017 & disponible sur Archive.org : Composer of the Week : BBC Radio 3 : August 02, 2017

Dans le dernier tiers de l'émission Donald Macleod diffuse la pièce conclusive d'Adam de la Halle : "Le jeu de Robin et Marion" (voir plus bas). Un excellent choix. La première vidéo présente l'ensemble en concert dans de brefs extraits de ce théâtre musical du XIIIe siècle.

Donald Macleod continues the story of early polyphony, as new musical forms emerge in France through combining secular song and sacred polyphony.

The transition from pure monophony to complex polyphony was a gradual one. It is argued that polyphony was never entirely absent from European music-making; nor did monophony suddenly go out of fashion. Nevertheless, a fascinating development can be traced between the 12th and 14th centuries, with the emergence of new musical forms, new rhythmic modes, and new methods of musical notation.

In today's programme, the fascinating results of what happened when secular song met the polyphonic traditions of the church. The troubadour or trouvère poets sang of secular love affairs, while in the cloisters many songs were concerned with saints and feast days. Extraordinarily, these two traditions come together with the birth of the motet, when three different parts may be singing at the same time about three completely different things! Finally, Donald looks at the life and work of Adam de la Halle from Arras.

Anonymous: Fas et nefas ambulant (words by Walter de Châtillon)
John Potter, tenor
Christopher O'Gorman, tenor
Rogers Covey-Crump, tenor

Beatriz de Dia: A Chantar
Sigrid Hausen, soprano
Estampie

Richard I: Ja nuls homs pris
Blondel de Nesle: A L'entrant d'Este
Estampie
Graham Derrick, director

Anonymous: motet On parole - A Paris - Frese nouvele!
Instrumental motets
Anonymous: motet De la virge Katerine - Quant froidure - Agmina milicie - Agmina,
Clemencic Consort
Rene Clemencic, director

Le Jeu de Robin et Marion  2012 Les Editions de Londres : " Le Jeu de Robin et Marion » est une œuvre théâtrale médiévale d'Adam de La Halle probablement écrite et représentée vers 1283."

Adam de la Halle: Le jeu de Robin et Marion
Sofia Laznik-Galves, soprano
Olivier Marcaud, tenor
Ensemble Micrologus

LE JEU DE ROBIN ET DE MARION di Adam de la Halle, l'ultimo dei trouvères


Le jeu de Robin et Marion, Adam de la Halle - musica e teatro profano medievale, Ensemble Anonymous.


Dans cette rubrique :
Birth of Polyphony (1)
Birth of Polyphony (2)

Composer of the Week, ''Birth of Polyphony'' Episode 4 of 5 :  Machaut and Ars Nova & pour l'écoute : Composer of the Week : BBC Radio 3 : August 03, 2017.

Poursuite de la remarquable étude historique et musicologique de Donald Macleod à son meilleur, un documentaire patrimonial.

Extraordinary developments in mathematics in France were matched by some extraordinary feats of polyphony. Donald Macleod considers the life and music of Guillaume de Machaut and his place in the development of polyphony.

The transition from pure monophony to complex polyphony was a gradual one. It is argued that polyphony was never entirely absent from European music-making; nor did monophony suddenly go out of fashion. Nevertheless, a fascinating development can be traced between the 12 and 14th centuries, with new musical forms, new rhythmic modes, and new methods of musical notation.

In this episode, Donald traces the career and some of the music of Machaut, music that is partially indebted to the theoretical foundations of his predecessor, Philippe de Vitry, who wrote an influential treatise on the new art of music, or Ars Nova. Machaut once served as secretary to the slightly unhinged King John of Bohemia - a man who gallantly rode to his death at the battle of Crecy tied to his horse. Besides his considerable literary output, Machaut's compositions evince astounding sophistication, and his masterpiece is the first ever polyphonic setting of the Mass ordinary - a setting which he may have intended to be sung as his own memorial.

Guillaume de Machaut: Doulz viaire gracieus
Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Dominique Véllard, director

Philippe de Vitry: Gratissima virginis
Gothic Voices
Christopher Page, director

Guillaume de Machaut: Cinc, un, trese; Ma fin est mon commencement
Orlando Consort

Guillaume de Machaut: Liement me deport
Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Dominique Véllard, director

Guillaume de Machaut: Messe de Nostre Dame
Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Dominique Véllard, director.

Guillaume de Machaut - Messe de Nostre Dame (Ensemble Gilles Binchois; Vellard)


France Musique, Disques de légende, le vendredi 20 septembre 2019 : La Messe de Notre-Dame de Guillaume de Machaut par l'ensemble Gilles Binchois

Dans cette rubrique :
Birth of Polyphony (1)
Birth of Polyphony (2)
Birth of Polyphony (3)

BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week, 'Birth of Polyphony' Episode 5 of 5 : Composers of the Trecento Fri 4 Aug 2017. Ce numéro n'est pas disponible sur Archive.org.

Dernier numéro de La naissance de la polyphonie magistralement présenté par  Donald Macleod.

Rival composers compete for prizes at Verona, and a blind organist astounds Florence with his talent. Donald Macleod uncovers the fascinating early days of polyphony in Italy during the 'trecento'.
(...)
In today's programme the art of polyphonic composition comes of age in the Italian states. Italian musicians of the 1300s are deeply indebted to certain of their French counterparts (two of today's composers chose to set words by Guillaume de Machaut). But they also develop a distinctive style, and develop new forms such as the madrigal - a very different form to its later incarnation. Rivals such as Giovanni da Cascia and Jacopo da Bologna compete for favours from a noble patron. But the greatest of all trecento composers - or at least the most prolific - is the blind Francisco Landini, who stunned the citizens of Florence with his skills as an organist, and as a composer of polyphonic music.

Programme musical :

Anthonello de Caserta: Beaute parfait
Ensemble Alba Musica Kyo

Beauté parfaite, bonté souveraine

Giovanni da Cascia: Sedendo all'ombra d'una bella mandorla
La Bella Stella
Palatino87

Giovanni da Cascia: Quando la stella
Gothic Voices
Christopher Page, director

Jacopo da Bologna: Aquil'altera, ferma; Elas mon cuer
Francesco Landini: Non ara may pieta  
Ensemble Unicorn
Michael Posch, director

Francesco Landini: Ochi dolente mie; Per seguir la speranca
Gothic Voices
Christopher Page, director

Landini: Ochi dolenti mie - Gothic Voices 1988


Moyen Âge Passion Francesco Landini (1325-1397), Musiques, Poésies et Chansons médiévales : Ars nova : les yeux tristes de Francesco Landini
« Ochi dolenti mie » dans cette pièce polyphonique, Francesco Landini s’adresse à ses propres yeux qui pleurent de ne pouvoir voir l’objet de leur amour, autant qu’ils pleurent la retenue de leur détenteur. → captation vidéo d'un concert de 2019, ensemble La Reverdie Francesco Landini: 'Ochi dolenti' - La Reverdie - Paaskerk - Baarn (NL)

Francesco Landini: Nessun ponga speranca; Giunta vaga bilta
Gothic Voices
Christopher Page, director

Francesco Landini, Adiu, adiu, dous dame yoli
Ensemble Alba Musica Kyo
Producer Geoff Ballinger.

Dans cette rubrique :
Birth of Polyphony (1)
Birth of Polyphony (2)
Birth of Polyphony (3)
Birth of Polyphony (4)

BBC Radio 3 The Early Music Show : Matthias Weckmann (1616-1674) Sun 11 Feb 2024.

Lucie Skeaping looks at the life and music of German organist and composer Matthias Weckmann, who died 350 years ago this month

Lucie Skeaping n’est plus dans l'organigramme de Radio 3 depuis le 1er avril. Depuis trois à quatre ans déjà, ses émissions étaient apparemment enregistrées depuis chez elle, en tous les cas pas depuis un studio d'enregistrement. Lucie Skeaping dans The Early Music Show, c'était une voix et un savoir, un art de la parole radiophonique. Son programme du 11 février dernier durait 59 minutes. En ligne sur le site de la BBC et uniquement accessible au Royaume-Uni, il ne dure plus que 20 minutes.

Vernon Duke
The Kitten (Ogden Nash's Musical Zoo)
Performer: Joseph Middleton. Singer: Ashley Riches.
•
Matthias Weckmann
Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet (Primus vs.
Performer: Bernard Foccroulle.
•
Matthias Weckmann
Es erhub sich ein Streit
Ensemble: Ricercar Ensemble. Choir: Cappela Sancti Michaelis. Conductor: Erik Van Nevel.

•
Matthias Weckmann
Toccata in A minor
Performer: Lars Ulrik Mortensen.

Matthias Weckmann - Toccata vel praeludium in d


•
Matthias Weckmann
Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein (Tertius vs.
Performer: Bernard Foccroulle

Matthias Weckmann: Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein

Matthias Weckmann
Sonata No 3 a 4 in C major
Ensemble: Bach Players.
•
Matthias Weckmann
Four Variations on the Song 'Die lieblichen Blicke'
Performer: Anke Dennert.
•
Matthias Weckmann
Wie liegt die Stadt so wust
Ensemble: Himmlische Cantorey.
•
Matthias Weckmann
Sonata No 11 for violin, cornettino, viola da gamba and bassoon
Ensemble: Musica Fiata. Conductor: Roland Wilson.

BBC 3 Private Passions Imtiaz Dharker Sun 26 May 2024.

Private Passions a gagné une demi-heure début avril avec la révision de la grille. L'occasion d'aller plus en profondeur dans la vie et l’œuvre de l'invité et de passer des morceaux plus longs. Nous sommes ici en très bonne compagnie avec la poétesse de 70 ans, Imtiaz Dharker. De sages paroles sur l'art, le rôle de l'écrivain, les relations familiales, la notoriété. Michael Berkeley est toujours au sommet de son art d'intervieweur sensible, préparé comme jamais. Une émission qui bénéficie d'un montage soigné, contrairement aux émissions de France Musique dont le direct est une faiblesse et souvent un gâchis.

Imtiaz Dharker was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2014, and has published seven collections of her verse. She’s performed her poems to thousands of students at Poetry Live events, a scheme founded by her late husband Simon Rhys Powell.

Imtiaz was born in Lahore in Pakistan and was six months old when her family moved to Glasgow. There she grew up as – in her words – “a Muslim Calvinist”.

When she was 17 she fell in love with her first husband, married in secret and eloped to India. As a result she was disowned by her family, but began to publish her first poems. She illustrates all her collections with pen and ink drawings.

Le site d'Imtiaz Dharker  
Une sélection de ses œuvres : Poems

Music Played

Antonín Dvořák
Song to the Moon (Rusalka)
Singer: Lucia Popp. Orchestra: Munich Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Stefan Soltész.
o EMI.

Mohammed Rafi ↓
Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To Kaye Hai?
o Pyaasa Origial Motion Picture Soundtrack.
o EMI.
o 3.

Extrait de film ye duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya hai_Pyaasa1957_GuruDutt & Wahida _Rafi_Sahir_SD Burman_a tribute à mettre sans le son (beaucoup de craquements) et déclencher le son en même temps que le film avec Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Scheherazade (The Story of the Kalendar Prince)
Conductor: Lorin Maazel. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker.
o Scheherazade.
o Deutsche Grammophon.
o 2.
•
Frédéric Chopin
Nocturne in E flatr Op.9 No.2
Performer: Arthur Rubinstein.
o Rubinstein Plays Chopin.
o RCA Red Seal.
o 7.
•
Antonín Dvořák
Songs my mother taught me
Performer: Beatrice Harrison.
o Nightingales and Beatrice Harrison.
o HMV.
o 001.
•
Olivier Messiaen
Quartet for the end of Time (1st mvt)
Ensemble: Hebrides Ensemble. Conductor: William Conway.
o Messiaen: Chamber Works.
o Linn Records.
o 1.
•
Pejman Tadayon
Performer: Pejman Tadayon.
o Silk Road.
o FM Records Music.
o 5.
•
Max Richter
Voices: Chorale - Pt. 4
Singer: Grace Davidson. Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Robert Ziegler.
o Voices.
o Decca (UMO) (Classics).
o 12.
•
Billie Holiday & The Tony Scott Orchestra
Strange Fruit Tony Scott version
o Lady Sings the Blues.
o Verve.
o 5.
•
Philip Glass
String Quartet no.3 'Mishima' (6th mvt)
Ensemble: Kronos Quartet.
o Kronos Quartet performs Philip Glass.
o Nonesuch.
o 18.

+ La vie en rose

Deux belles heures passées en compagnie de Martin Handley qui présentait encore l'émission Breakfast du dimanche matin le 11 février dernier avant de se voir remplacer définitivement le 1er avril lors de la nouvelle mouture de la grille BBC Radio 3. Une véritable perte.

Martin Handley Classical escape.

Martin Handley presents Radio 3's classical breakfast show with music that captures the mood of Sunday morning. Email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

Première pièce au programme :



Charles Gounod: Funeral march of a marionette


Martin Handley rappelle que cette musique est associée dans l'esprit des auditeurs à Alfred Hitchcock Presents.



Toute la programmation musicale vaut le déplacement. Et comme chaque dimanche, Martin Handley lit, et de quelle manière !, un poème suggéré par un auditeur. Ce 11 février c'était Everyone Sang by Siegfried Sassoon.

Il n'y a aucune raison pour que les neuf numéros de 14' suivant le premier de la série The Stalin Affair by Giles Milton soient de moindre qualité que le numéro initial. BBC Radio 4 a confié l'adaptation de ce livre à la maison de production  Pier qu a trouvé en Nigel Anthony le lecteur idoine. C'est un régal.

The Stalin Affair by Giles Milton (1.10) 18 Jun 2024 (numéro en ligne jusqu'au 17 juillet 2024).

Drawing on astonishing unpublished diaries, letters and secret reports, Giles Milton’s The Stalin Affair reveals troves of new material about the most unlikely coalition in history.

In the summer of 1941, as Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Stalin’s forces faced a catastrophic defeat which would make the Allies’ liberation of Europe virtually impossible. To avert this disaster, Britain and America mobilised a unique team of remarkable diplomats with the mission of keeping the Red Army in the war.

Into the heart of Stalin’s Moscow, President Roosevelt sent Averell Harriman, the fourth-richest man in America, and his brilliant young daughter, Kathy. Churchill despatched the reckless but inventive Archie Clark Kerr – and occasionally himself – to negotiate with the Kremlin’s wiliest operators. Together, this improbable group grappled with Stalin at his most cunning, to make victory possible. But they also discovered that the Soviet dictator had a terrifying master plan for the post-war world.

It’s 1941, and Britain is under increasing threat from Nazi Germany. Prime Minister Winston Churchill appeals to President Roosevelt for aid. Roosevelt sends wealthy businessman Averell Harriman to London as his special envoy to establish how America can assist. When Hitler launches his shock invasion of the Soviet Union in June of that year, taking Stalin by complete surprise, Churchill and Roosevelt decide to go to Stalin’s aid. But how best to help, and win the trust of, their old enemy?

Read by Nigel Anthony
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

Bibliographie : The danger-loving bisexual diplomat who tamed Joseph Stalin The Telegraph, Katja Hoyer 30 April 2024 .

2
America has started to provide aid to war-torn Britain in the shape of food, planes, tanks and heavy machinery. But the USA has not, as yet, declared war on Germany. Hitler’s Panzer divisions are racing towards Moscow. Before long they will be pounding on the city gates.

3
August 1941. Churchill meets Roosevelt in Newfoundland and they sign the Atlantic Charter. They agree to send a delegation to Stalin to build a necessary but disagreeable relationship. Averell Harriman and Lord Beaverbrook are sent to Moscow, where they are initially treated with suspicion by Stalin. Eventually, his attitude towards them mellows and a banquet is thrown in their honour. With Moscow under heavy bombardment by German forces, all foreign nationals (including embassy staff) are moved to the city of Kuibyshev – many hundreds of miles east of the capital.

4
December 1941. Following the Japanese attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbour, the USA enters the war. Churchill, accompanied by Averell Harriman and Lord Beaverbrook, visits Roosevelt in Washington. The industrial might of America is turned over to weapons production. Archie Clark Kerr becomes British ambassador to Moscow and starts to develop a good relationship with Stalin – they crack jokes together, and share a love of pipe smoking.

5
May 1942. Foreign Commissar Molotov is sent by Stalin to visit Churchill in London. He tries to persuade Britain and America to open a second front by launching a joint invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. German warships attack the convoys bringing supplies from America to Russia. Churchill visits Stalin in Moscow. The two leaders bicker and argue. Stalin reacts angrily and bitterly when told of the postponement of the planned Allied landings in France.

6
Autumn 1942. American aid is now being transported to Russia via the Iranian railway line between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. In January 1943, the surrender of German troops at Stalingrad signals that the war is on the turn. Churchill meets Roosevelt in Nova Scotia, and Operation Overlord – the Allied invasion of northern France – is scheduled for 1944. Averell Harriman is appointed US ambassador in Moscow. He becomes increasingly concerned by Roosevelt’s naivety about Stalin. Harriman wrote: ‘I gained the impression that Stalin wanted a pulverized Europe in which there would be no strong countries except the Soviet Union.’

7
1943. The journalist Kathy Harriman is in Moscow with her ambassador father. She sets up a glossy magazine, Amerika, to inform Russians about American life - it was published until 1994. The ‘Big Three’ conference takes place in Tehran – the first time Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin meet face to face. Churchill announces that Operation Overlord would take place ‘no later than May, 1944’.

8
January 1944. American journalists are taken to see the bodies of large numbers of Polish soldiers discovered in mass graves in Katyn Forest. They are told that the Germans had murdered the Poles in cold blood. Many in Washington and London are convinced, however, that the Soviets had committed the atrocity, and feel deeply uncomfortable at having to collude in Stalin’s crimes in order to keep the Allied relationship on track.

9
October 1944. Concerned by the Red Army’s breakneck advance into Eastern Europe, Churchill visits Stalin in Moscow for a second time – and, producing what he refers to as his ‘naughty document’, suggests a deal with him, behind Roosevelt’s back. At the end of January 1945, the ‘Big Three’ meet again at the Yalta Conference – to plan the architecture of the post-war world.

10
February 1945. At the Yalta Conference, Stalin thanks Roosevelt for ‘mobilising the world against Hitler’. There is a genuine belief that America and Britain can continue to cooperate with Stalin in the post-war world. However, the warmth of friendship between the ‘Big Three’ dissipates with alarming speed. Averell Harriman warns that, ‘the world is splitting into two irreconcilable camps’, with the Kremlin camp hell bent on swallowing as many countries in Eastern Europe as possible. It becomes clear that Stalin can no longer be trusted.