23rd Jan 2025 | 13:00Wigmore Hall, London, UK
Music in Auschwitz
Incredibly, there were orchestras in most Nazi concentration camps – music became a means of control. Popular ballads conjured an illusion of normality for camp arrivals, while marching tunes imposed order on slave labourers. On Sundays, performing prisoners were forced to entertain their tormentors. By using the testimony of musicians at Auschwitz and the pieces they played, this concert honours their memory and the lives of the millions who did not survive.
it was exquisitely done and brought out the hints of Ravel and Hindemith that ripple through this jazz inspired work. Bluesy notes rocked moodily in the Andante, sweetly toned by Wallfisch, and the final movement had all the brilliance of its repeated pulse thrummed with spellbinding syncopation. Simon Callaghan was the jazz-perfect pianist.