VA - KZ Musik - Encyclopedia of Music Composed in Concentration Camps (1933 - 1945) - CD 6

"The sixth CD is a wild potpourri, demonstrating that an astounding range of music--liturgical, classical, popular; choral, vocal, instrumental--can be deeply moving. It opens with Pinkhof's Jewish liturgical songs for a cappella male choir. Two long Hebraic chants by Bischofswerder, intoned by solo male voice (Paolo Candido), are surpassingly haunting, as is Zrzavý's V'lirushalaim for baritone and string quartet. Note that both sides imprisoned foreigners during World War II: Bischofswerder, a German rabbi who moved to London in 1933, was interned as an "enemy alien" in England and later in Australia. Hilsley's Fantasia is for a plaintive oboe and string quartet, his Dance Pieces for oboe and viola. Kropiński's instrumental music is somber; Bez Titulu a slow, sad tango. The remaining tracks are sentimental, often bittersweet ballads. (...)

Volume 6 (68 minutes) is an assemblage of vocal works along with a few short instrumental items. There are short, solemn liturgical texts set for a cappella male choir and solo male voice by Josef Pinkhof (1906-45) and Boaz Bischofswerder (d 1956); more characteristic songs and short piano solos and pianoand- violin duos by composers already represented in earlier volumes (Ullmann, Kropinski, Peskarova); and a conventionally tonal and bizarrely sweet 7-minute setting--presumably sardonic?--of a brutal text, warbled out by a childlike female voice with four-square piano accompaniment and given the cruel title Auschwitz Lied. This is credited to one Camilla Mohaupt, though the name is uncertain and there are no birth or death dates. The Kropinski numbers (my favorite things on this volume) exhibit that composer's pleasing way with traditionally harmonized, Slavic-inflected melodies such as his `Bez Titulu'. The universal appeal of this idiom is underscored by the popularity of George Gershwin's "blue" music--more Eastern European than African- American in origin--as well as such popular songs as the catchy, at once cynical and nostalgic `Those Were the Days', made worldfamous in a 1968 English language adaptation released on the Beatles' label, but actually written by a Russian song-writer, Boris Fomin, in the early 1900s. Indeed, `Bez Titulu' and `Those Were the Days' bear a strong enough resemblance to suggest Kropinski was familiar with the earlier song; at any rate he certainly knew the style. In sharp contrast are two pieces by William Hilsley (1911-2003), an English composer who had emigrated to the Netherlands before he was apprehended by the Third Reich and held in an internment camp for British citizens. His Fantasia on a Provencal Christmas Carol for oboe and string quartet and Three Dances for oboe and viola are fresh, sprightly, modal, pastoral, and pensive, very much in a Vaughan Williams vein and seemingly out of place among the darkened weltschmerz of so many downtrodden Eastern European Jews and fiery Communist martyrs. How innocent and undamaged Hilsley's music seems by comparison." -- American Record Guide, Mark L Lehman, November-December 2009

"In 1982, Dr. Francesco Lotoro visited Auschwitz and was amazed to find in its archives, a treasure trove of music written by prisoners. Ever since, Professor Lotoro has dedicated his life and career to finding, authenticating, transcribing, and cataloguing this precious legacy.

Traveling all over the world in search of this lost music, Professor Lotoro has found over 4,000 pieces of music — from astonishingly beautiful chamber music to avant-garde jazz to bawdy vaudevillian songs—and he estimates that 1,500 pieces are still waiting to be discovered.

These pieces were scribbled in notebooks, diaries, and even on toilet paper. Many of the finds originated in Terezin in the Czech Republic. Terezin was a concentration camp used by the Third Reich as propaganda to hide their plans for extermination., where music was allowed. Orchestras and bands were created and allowed to perform.

Thus far, Lotoro’s discoveries have resulted in a collection of over 4,000 manuscripts, around 13,000 microfiches, as well as numerous letters, drawings, and photographs. Professor Lotoro converted to Judaism and believes it is his Mitzvah to preserve this cultural heritage. He knows that he must move quickly or the music of that generation will be lost.

As a concert pianist, Professor Lotoro studied at The Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. Subsequently, he studied with Tamas Vasary and Aldo Ciccolini. In 1995, Lotoro founded the Orchestra Musica Judaica. His discography includes over 40 CDs, including 24 of Concentrationary music with KZ Musik.

In 2007 Dahlan and Honora Foah met Francesco Lotoro and inspired by his work, created a concert of some of the works he had discovered. The concert evolved into the Creativity in Captivity project dedicated to supporting Dr. Lotoro’s work."

Tracklist:

Josef Pinkhof Bergen-Belsen
1. Lecho Adonoi, male choir
2. Scharchoret, male choir
3. Wajhie, male choir
4. Gadlu, male choir & male singer

Boaz Bischofswerder (? – 1956) Hay/Tatura
5. El Male Rachamim, male singer
6. Lehu Nerann’no, male singer
7. Mi Addir, baritone & piano

David Grünfeld – Zikmund Schul Terezin
8. Uv’tzeil Knofecho, baritone & piano

Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944) Terezin
2 Lieder der Tröstung
9. Tote wollen nicht verweilen, baritone & piano
10. Erwachen zu Weihnachten, baritone & piano

Vilem Zrzawy – Zikmund Schul Terezin
11. V'lirushalaim, baritone & strings quartet

William Hilsley Oflag XVIII C/Oflag VIII A
12. Fantasy on Provencal Christmas Carol, hautbois & strings quartet
13-15. 3 Dance Pieces, hautbois & viola

Hermann Gürtler Bolzano, Italy
16. Rigaudon, piano

Jozef Kropiński (1913-1970) Buchenwald
17. Bez titułu, piano
18. Poem (after Poem Z. Fibich’s 5th Symphony), piano
19. Tęsknota, piano
20. Pieśń bez słów, violin & piano
21. Dlaczego?, violin & piano

Ludmila Peškařová (1890-1987) Ravensbrück
22. Černe vlajky, female singer & piano
23. Modlitba za vlast, female singer & piano
24. Hradčany krásné, female singer & piano
25. Kdybych měla aero, female singer & piano
26. Slunce vzchází a zapadá, female singer & piano

Jadwiga Leszczynska Auschwitz
27. Frauenlager, female singer & piano

Camilla Mohaupt Bergen-Belsen
28. Auschwitz Lied, female singer & piano

VA - KZ Musik - Encyclopedia of Music Composed in Concentration Camps (1933 - 1945) - CD 6
(256 kbps, cover art included)