Wow!!! And I thought Der Wintereise was grim!!! But I am fascinated by that dead birds in the air business- was gravity destroyed in the blast? It is interesting that Krenek himself said that the Second Symphony was about man struggling against the harsh, hostile natural environment. Nowadays we think of the environment struggling against harsh, hostile human activity!!! The muted haunting slow movement from the Vaughn Williams Sixth Symphony was interpreted in some quarters as a portrait of the aftermath of nuclear war, but VW denied it Professor Bernard Chasan Physics Department, Boston University