BERMAN, KAREL- bass
HOLOCEK, ALFRED - piano

K. Berman: Four Songs for Bass and Piano;
Suite for Piano Solo
P. Haas: Four Songs to the Text of Chinese Poetry (Theresienstadt-Series)

Karel Berman and Pavel Haas When Karel Berman came to the TerezIn concentration camp in March of 1943, musical life there was already in 'full swing'. Gone were the days of the modest beginnings, when artists sang and played their instruments, often without any accompaniment, or maybe just an accordion, in basements and attics. By this time formal recitals, concerts of chamber music, and even presentation of entire operas in concert form and with a piano accompaniment were on daily order. Despite his youth, Berman had already a lot of experience not only as a singer and conductor, but also as a composer, and so he was able to plunge into the busy musical life in TerezIn without any deliberation. The TerezIn public became used to seeing him on the make-shift podiums in recitals and operas, as well as conducting his own girl chorus, or accompanying other singers on a piano. And when the composer Viktor Ullmann presented the second concert of his 'Studio for New Music', Karel Berman's name was not missing among the young TerezIn composers as author of the song cycle Poupata (Buds). It was not always easy to obtain sheet music in Terezin. True, several musicians smuggled a few compositions into the camp, others wrote down pieces, which they had previously memorized, and a music lover. Arnot Weiss, who occasionally had to go to a nearby town on official business, found there a very fruitful musical liaison in the person of Mr. alud, proprietor of a music store. However, all that was not sufficient for multiple daily performances and the artists were constantly hungry for additional scores. They turned, therefore, to the imprisoned composers with requests for.....

(...) this recording has historical significance, and allows listeners a glimpse into musical activities during a period when the world was shaken by indescribable horrors. High Performance, Summer 1993 Forbidden composers heard again (...) the music is neither sentimental nor hysterical. The Kansas City Star
(...) The music may be rather obvious, but I found it quite moving American Record Guide. December 1992