Composer(s): Laitman, Lori
Conductor(s): Crnko, Joseph
Label: Naxos
Series: American Classics
Genre: Choral - Secular; Vocal
Period: Contemporary
Catalogue No: 8.559685
Barcode: 636943968529
Release Date: 05/2011

LAITMAN, L.: Vedem / Fathers (Music of Remembrance)

Every Friday for two years between 1942 and 1944, a group of teenage boy prisoners in the Terezín concentration camp shared their poems, stories and artwork in a secret magazine they called Vedem. Most of those boys perished in the Holocaust, but the pages of their magazine have miraculously been preserved. Inspired by this legacy, American vocal composer Lori Laitman has created an oratorio that gives new voice to the young prisoners’ unbending resistance to those who sought to rob them of their humanity. Using verses of the boys’ own poetry, this hauntingly beautiful music pays profound tribute to the power of the human spirit. Vedem was commissioned by Music of Remembrance, a Seattle-based organization dedicated to remembering Holocaust musicians through their art.

Tracklist

Laitman, Lori
Ornest, Zdenek - Lyricist
Ginz, Petr - Lyricist
Hachenburg, Hanus - Lyricist
Mason, David - Lyricist
Taussig, Josef - Lyricist
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
1 Part I: The Transports: Hear My Story Now (A Man, Chorus, A Youth, A Woman) 06:30
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
2 Part I: The Transports: Memories of Prague (Mezzo-soprano) 04:18
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
3 Part II: Home Number One: Home Number One (Chorus) 02:11
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
4 Part II: Home Number One: Five (Tenor) 01:44
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
5 Part III: Vedem: Vedem (Chorus, A Man, A Woman, Boys) 03:42
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
6 Part III: Vedem: Just a Little Warmth (Mezzo-soprano) 03:16
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
7 Part III: Vedem: In Terezin The Mind Was Free (Chorus, Boys) 02:11
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
8 Part III: Vedem: Thoughts (Tenor, Chorus) 02:56
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
9 Part III: Vedem: Live Leaves about to Fall (Chorus, A Man) 02:27
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
10 Part III: Vedem: Love in the Floodgates (Tenor) 00:50
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
11 Part III: Vedem: We were Alive, Approximately (Chorus) 02:08
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
12 Part IV: A Model Ghetto (Youths, A Woman, A Man, Chorus) 05:35
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
13 Part V: They Are Gone: They Are Gone (A Rabbi, Chorus) 02:18
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
14 Part V: They Are Gone: Farewell to Summer (Mezzo-soprano) 02:27
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
15 Part V: They Are Gone: We Were No Different Than You (A Rabbi, Chorus, A Woman) 06:05
Hauck, Ross (tenor)
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Northwest Boychoir (Choir)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
Crnko, Joseph (Conductor)
Laitman, Lori
Ranasinghe, Anne - Lyricist
Vogel, David - Lyricist
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
16 No. 1. Don't Cry, fragment 1 00:31
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
17 No. 2. You, Father 02:11
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
18 No. 3. Don't Cry, fragment 2 00:36
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
19 No. 4. Last Night I Dreamt 04:32
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
20 No. 5. Don't Cry, fragment 3 00:53
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
21 No. 6. I Saw My Father Drowning 02:35
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)
22 No. 7. Don't Cry 01:23
Niederloh, Angela (mezzo-soprano)
Music of Remembrance (Ensemble)

Total Playing Time: 01:01:19