Monday 25 August Queen's Hall
Music from Terezienstadt/Terezin
Anne-Sofie von Otter mezzo-soprano
Daniel Hope violin
Bengt Forsberg piano
Bebe Risenfors accordion/double bass/guitarThe tragedy of Terezin - artistic flowering in defiance of the wretched circumstances.The Nazis used this as propaganda, but, as a survivor later stated - 'they knew they were going to kill us anyway, so they just let us get on with it - dancing under the gallows'. It is heart-breaking to reflect how many gifted artists, musicians and writers were cut off in their prime,
Anne Sofie von Otter has also made a CD commemorating the musicians of Terezin - the programme was a selection of the music written by the inmates, mainly songs. but also some extracts of chamber music. I particular liked the Serenade for Violin and Piano by Robert Dauber (1922-1945).
The group also performed music by the best-known inmates of Terezin, Viktor Ullmann and Pavel Haas, both murdered by the Nazis in 1944. I was especially impressed by Ullmann's STURMLIED, a setting of a poem by Ricarda Huch, with a very Schumann-like piano postlude. I have included a clip of Susanna Proskura singing this, as there doesn't appear to be one of Anne-Sofie von Otter.
Another piece that particular struck most of the audience was the bitterly ironic anonymous TEREZIN-LIED, based on a song from Emmerich Kalman's Countess Maritza, relating how everyone enjoys their life in their beloved Theresienstadt.....
Finally, I will draw attention to the beautifully simple and moving songs by Ilse Weber 1903-1944. The recital started with the heart-rending ICH WANDRE DURCH THERESIENSTADT. (This version is sung by Bente Kahan, and has English subtitles).
And here is Anne Sofie von Otter singing Weber's WIEGALA - a lullaby which she is said to have sung as she voluntarily accompanied the children she was caring for on their final journey to Auschwitz.
