Music of Remembrance - Remembering Holocaust Musicians

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HOLOCAUST MUSICIANS LEFT POWERFUL LEGACY
-R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 11, 1999

During the past several years, music written by composers in Terezin, a concentration camp that was situated north of Prague, has been given considerable exposure... However, most of these concerts have been one-time events. Pianist Mina Miller wanted something longer lived and thus created a series titled "Music of Remembrance," which opened its second season Tuesday night at Nordstrom Recital Hall.

The choice of night was not random: It was the 61st anniversary of "Kristallnacht," when wide-spread, anti-Jewish violence began in Berlin. Jewish merchants were particularly hard hit, their store windows smashed, thus the name "Crystal Night."

The program was divided into composers interned in Terezin who subsequently died in other camps (mostly Auschwitz, in 1944-45) and those living today in the United States. Music was diverse in approach but nearly always expressive and moving.

Those who know the history of Terezin will know the names of Hans Krasa, Viktor Ullmann, Gideon Klein and Zikmund Schul. Their music is a sharp reminder of talent purposely destroyed.

Krasa’s Theme and Variations for string quartet opened the concert in an elegiac way, powerfully played by Mikhail Shmidt and Leonid Keylin, violin; Susan Gulkis, viola; and Mara Finkelstein, cello. Mezzo-soprano Julie Mirel dug deep into Ullmann’s "Brezulinka: Three Songs," breathing life into them, both poignant and meaningful. Miller was her able accompanist. The Klein Duo for violin and cello, played with assurance by Shmidt with cellist David Tonkonogui, was all the more grave in its impact because of the slow movement, which stops mid-phrase. Klein was unable to finish the piece before being shipped off to his death in another camp. Schul's "Zaddik" was compelling for its bittersweet sentiment...

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