Encyclopedia of Music Composed in Concentration Camps, CD 11

Angelo de Leonardis (Performer), Frantisec Domazlicky (Composer), Marius Flothuis (Composer), Emile Goue (Composer), Jozef Kropinski (Composer), Francesco Lotoro (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Angelo de Leonardis, Francesco Lotoro
• Composer: Frantisec Domazlicky, Marius Flothuis, Emile Goue, Jozef Kropinski
• Audio CD (August 25, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: KZ Musik
• ASIN: B002ED6V40
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,329 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sonata for solo violin, Op. 23/3: Fantasia. Allegro moderato

2. Sonata for solo violin, Op. 23/3: Andante

3. Sonata for solo violin, Op. 23/3: Molto vivace

4. Sonata for solo violin, Op. 23/3: Rondo. Allegretto leggiero

5. Easy Pieces (3), for string quartet: Prélude

6. Easy Pieces (3), for string quartet: Rorate

7. Easy Pieces (3), for string quartet: Noël Languedocien

8. Pisen beze slov, for string quartet

9. Kocham i tesknie, for voice & string quartet

10. Smetna Koleda, for voice & string quartet

11. Transformatio doloris!, for voice & piano

12. Kiedys bylas przy mnie, for voice & piano

13. Exegi Monumentum, for voice & piano

14. Jasne sny, for voice & piano

15. Majowy sen, for voice & piano

16. Nasza badzie ta pierwsza noc, for voice & piano

17. Wieczorna godzina, for voice & piano

18. Noche de Plegaria, for piano

Editorial Reviews

Gapplegate Music Review, Grego Edwards, October 22, 2009

KZ Musik is in the process of issuing a comprehensive CD series covering music written from 1933 to 1945, the Encyclopedia of Music Composed in Concentration Camps. I have been listening to their sixth volume and it is a very moving experience. It the midst of one of the most evil series of actions in the history of the world, the human spirit asserts itself here with eleven composers who refused to be spiritually defeated.

The courage of these musicians should serve as a model for all of us today. Whether the compositions are absolute classics or not is moot. The fact of their existence demands that they be heard, not forgotten, and that they be an active part of the cultural heritage of the 20th century.

The music is noble and filled with a strength that goes beyond styles and fashions. The compositions in Volume 6 include the solo vocal cantation-style works of Josef Pinkhof, William Hilsley's haunting "Fantasia on Provencal Christmas Carol," songs for voice and piano, solo piano pieces, chamber works.

Each volume contains an informative booklet.

It is music that on one level is hard to listen to. What monstrosity let this happen? But ultimately these composers were writing the music in the hopes that we and their God might hear. These are like musical messages in a bottle, for us and the generations to follow. Do not forget our sufferings, they seem to be saying. If we can write beautiful music under such traumatically harrowing conditions, then you have no excuse. Music must flourish, musicians must be heard. If not civilization does not stand a chance on this earth.

Getting at least one of these CDs and listening is a symbolic act of solidarity with those victims of a world gone criminally insane. And the music is worthwhile.

American Record Guide, Mark L Lehman, November-December 2009

Volume 11 (64 minutes) offers music by four composers, three of whom have appeared before in the series. Flothius is represented by one of his most serious and ambitious works, a full-length (18-minute), four-movement sonata for solo violin. I is a supple, wandering fantasia, II a meditative and long-lined andante, III a short, sinuous scherzo with cunningly deployed tremolos, and IV a Rondo marked allegretto leggiero (moderately fast and with a light touch) that unexpectedly eventuates in a quiet conclusion. Goué contributes Three Easy Pieces for string quartet. These are in a more traditional style than Goué's other works and presumably intended for the available amateur players. The harmonies, mostly gentle minor-chord progressions, have a sturdy, pre-modern simplicity and are used with the utmost sensitivity to convey a consoling sense of calm, quiet tenderness. From the industrious Kropinski come nine songs with his typical plenitude of emotion appeal, these for baritone accompanied by either piano or string quartet. Finally there's a lush, romantic, rather Dvorakian four-minute movement for string quartet by Frantisek Domazlicky (1913- 77), a Czech violinist who survived many years of imprisonment at several concentration camps and went on to compose sonatas and symphonic works after the war.

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