The Nash Ensemble's latest CD brings together a group of composers who shared a similar grim fate.Brundibar is a collection of chamber works by Hans Krasa, Viktor Ullmann, Gideon Klein and Pavel Haas, four Czechs who perished in the Holocaust.
Inevitably, the set is dominated by the Brundibar of its title, an opera by Krasa that was actually staged at Theresienstadt concentration camp. One special performance was even set up in 1944 to assure the visiting Red Cross that, under Hitler, life was a cultural holiday camp for the Jewish people.
English composer David Matthews has arranged a suite from the stage work, cleverly incorporating the talents of nine musicians.
Krasa's music resembles that of Kurt Weill, although it lacks Weill's sardonic strain. Some pieces are sweet and sad, with just a tinge of klezmer; others are blithely carefree - ironically so, considering the situation of the original musicians.
The remaining composers are represented by works for string ensemble. Ullmann's Quartet No3 is an emotionally engaging score, penned in Theresienstadt in 1943, and includes a particularly haunting Largo.
