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Music CD - Terezín/Theresienstadt
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Music CD: Terezín/Theresienstadt
List Price: $16.98
Our Price: $11.93
Your Save: $ 5.05 ( 30% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Deutsche Gramophon
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Tracks:
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1. Ich wandre durch Theresienstadt
2. Pod desˇtníkem (Under an umbrella)
3. Vsˇechno jde! (Terezín March) (Anything goes!)
4. Ade, Kamerad! (Farewell, my friend!)
5. Und der Regen rinnt (And the rain runs)
6. Ich weiß bestimmt, ich werd dich wiedersehn! (I know for certain that I shall see you again!)
7. Terezín-Lied (Terezín Song)
8. Wir reiten auf hölzernen Pferden (We're riding on wooden horses)
9. Wiegala (Lullaby)
10. Čtyřversˇí (Quatrain)
11. Vzrusˇení (Sensation)
12. Přátelé (Friends)
13. Ein jüdisches Kind (A Jewish Child)
14. Beryozkele (Birch Tree)
15. Clere Vénus (Sonnet V) (Bright Venus)
16. On voit mourir (Sonnet VII) (All living things are seen to perish)
17. Je vis, je meurs (Sonnet VIII) (I live, I die)
18. Zaslech jsem divoké husy (I heard the wild geese)
19. V bambusovém háji (In the bamboo grove)
20. Daleko měsíc je domova (The moon is far from home)
21. Probděná noc (A sleepless night)
22. 1. Allegro con fuoco
23. 2. Andante cantabile
24. 3. Scherzo. Allegretto grazioso
25. 4. Finale. Allegro risoluto
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028947765462
Label: Deutsche Gramophon
Manufacturer: Deutsche Gramophon
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Deutsche Gramophon
Release Date: 2008-03-25
Studio: Deutsche Gramophon
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: CD of the year
Comment: "CD of the year" is what Jessica Duchen called this stunningly beautiful recording at her blog on Dec. 21, 2007: [...]. She wrote, in full:
"CD of the year: Terezin, recorded by Anne Sofie von Otter with Bengt Forsberg, Daniel Hope and friends. This is one of the most extraordinary discs that's ever come my way, and the most devastating. Ilse Weber, a young nurse, volunteered to go with the sick children of Terezin to death at Auschwitz so that she could take care of them em route; her songs are the heart of this recording. It's said she sang 'Wiegala' with the children in the gas chamber. The CD also features music by Pavel Haas, Hans Krasa and the solo violin sonata by Erwin Schulhoff, plus some amazing, black-humoured cabaret songs."
I will add that some of the songs are about being at Terezin (or leaving it to be murdered at Auschwitz), and some of these are unbearably sad, but others are sprightly. Some of the songs are poems unrelated to the Holocaust that composers set to music while at Terezin. The songs are sung in Czech or German, with the booklet containing translations into English and French as well. Some leave melodies running through your head, while others are more challenging, but all are wonderful. This CD is beautiful beyond words -- at least any words that I can come up with.
If you'd like to learn more about this music and its composers and performances, I recommend Music In Terezin: 1941-1945, by Joza Karas. It is not much as literature, but it contains the facts about the music at this concentration camp.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Haunting and Beautiful
Comment: I truly hope that this album is released in the US soon. I resorted to buying the 320Kb MP3 download directly from DG's website; but I assure you that this warrents a much wider distribution.
Anne Sofie von Otter is, I admit, my personal favorite singer. She simply would not release anything that was not fabulous. But that is not why I love this release.
This music stands, like other concentration camp music, as the ultimate statement of human will. In conditions as unbearable as those in Theresienstadt, men and woman survived by this music. It demonstrates human strength and the human ability to create beauty even from horror.
The performances are impeccable; including really beautiful German and Yiddish diction, sensitivity, and technical skills. The music stands on it's own as Leider and Chamber Music, even exclusive of it's original environment. Together, they make for a very poignant tribute to the millions who perished in this time period.
It is simply stunning.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Exquisite, Haunting Songs and Chamber Music from Prisoners of the Holocaust
Comment: BACKGROUND
Theresienstadt (or Terezín in Czech) was the concentration camp in Czechoslovakia where members of the Jewish cultural elite were detained until sent to be gassed at Auschwitz. Among its denizens were gifted composers who wrote and performed for their fellow inmates and, increasingly, their captors. In this environment there evolved a certain permissiveness, even of music otherwise banned by the Nazis. Terezín has indeed been called "Hitler's gift to the Jews."
This album is a program of music, mostly cabaret and art songs, written within the camp. The liner note explains in brief the situation and fate of each composer, underscoring the tragic irony that midwived these works. The poverty of detail leaves us wanting to hear more of the horrible collective tale. This works on the music's behalf, for it sends us back to the songs themselves to learn more.
THE PROGRAM
This is not the first recording of music created in Terezín, even of its vocal chamber music, but this is the first that I have heard. Admittedly, such a project may seem proof to criticism and to a certain extent it is. The point becomes moot, for both the program assembled and the performances are truly flawless.
I am not sure what the full range of music composed at Terezín encompassed, but it would seem fitting that smaller-scale forms such as Lieder and chamber music might well be favored among artists whose fate from day to day was uncertain. The program follows an ingenious and emotionally effective progression: from simple tunes with a folksong flavor, to songs with in the idiom of cabaret and operetta, to art songs; the music moves from simple, nostalgic and tuneful to atonal, expressionist, and tormented. Eventually, the voice itself gives way and all we hear is a beautiful, haunting, sometimes acrid sonata for solo violin.
Like the music itself, variety characterizes the poetry and the indeed the languages set, as befits a way station for detained artists from throughout Europe. Found here are many texts in German and Czech, but also French and Yiddish. The German language here takes on an uncommonly tender quality, almost perversely given the identify of their persecutors (and the ensuing stereotypes). Some of the Czech songs are translations from German (Rilke) and Chinese. Needless to say, homesickness is a common theme throughout. Some of the cabaret numbers are arresting in their seeming insouciance, but others apply their tunefulness to wrily direct observations about conditions at Terezín. Nothing approaching the slapstick of "Springtime for Hitler," of course, but humor and a hint of parody are not absent.
THE PERFORMANCES
The performances are faultless, I really can't point to a single flaw in interpretation or technique. I tend to run hot and cold with Ms. von Otter, but here she is perfect command of her art, or rather proves herself an ideal vessel for these heartbreaking compositions. Christian Gerhaher is the most interesting of the young crop of singers who are worthy proponents of Lieder. He is somewhat like Fischer-Dieskau in tone and verbal acuity -- not necessarily a plus in my book -- and here acquits himself with distinction and conviction.
The instrumentalists too are all impressive -- song accompaniments range from piano alone to various ensembles that include accordion, strings, clarinet and guitar. Like the variety of material and languages, the instrumental variety is wholly natural and adds to the expressive range. Violinist Daniel Hope is the participant who has the longest association with this music, and his performance of the closing violin sonata is accomplished -- touching and somewhat stoic, never maudlin.
Despite being in release for many months now, the album has still not been distributed in the U.S. It is available for download from iTunes (but without the booklet) or from the Deutsche Grammophon web site (with booklet). If you are interested in art song, cabaret, chamber music, or Judaica, your collection cannot be without this extraordinary album.
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Editorial Reviews:
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The Swedish mezzo-soprano, Anne Sofie von Otter, is known as one of the most versatile stars of her generation. She is always in search of new musical challenges, whether with the songs of Cécile Chaminade or of Benny Andersson. Here, von Otter has chosen a project with a serious and historically significant background. She interprets pieces written in the Theresienstadt concentration camp by a group of Jewish composers who were imprisoned there and yet managed to foster a rich cultural life even under the most extreme conditions. On this album, Anne Sofie von Otter is joined by one of the greatest lieder singers of today, Christian Gerhaher, and their longtime pianists Bengt Forsberg and Gerold Huber, respectively. Together they present songs by Viktor Ullmann, Hans Krása, and so-called cabaret songs. DG's recently signed violinist Daniel Hope contributes the Sonata for Solo Violin by Erwin Schulhoff.
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