| | Print | Email

The Holocaust Requiem, review


Shlomo Blumberg,
Israel

Continuing my effort to bring to the knowledge of Jewish communities around the world about a new classical music work, Requiem about the Holocaust, composed by Zlata Razdolina emigrated from St. Peters burg - Russia to Israel about 10 years ago, I would like to share the following.

"It seems as if Razdolina's aim in this new opus is to raise a breathing memorial to the tradition and culture which the Nazis tried to destroy and which has emerged even through the most horrible of times. The way this young composer - who grew up in land in which freedom was a dream and anti-Semitism a daily occurrence - deals with the Holocaust is intriguing." - From The Jerusalem Post, April 22, 1998 Memorial in music by Michael Eisenstudt

The Requiem was performed in front of Holocaust survivors in several concerts arranged by AMCHA - the National Israeli Center for Psychosocial Support of Survivors of the Holocaust and the Second Generation and was accepted with great acclaim by the survivors. The concerts were performed by using a CD with its orchestral version performed by The Moravian Philharmonic orchestra from the Czech Republic, conducted by maestro Victor Feldbrill from Toronto - Canada, as a playback and reading and singing Katzenelson's words on top of the music by the composer.

Local composers in Israel are continually influenced and inspired by the gravest period in Jewish history and continue to write music that in one way or another is related to the Holocaust and its never-ceasing impressions on our daily reality and collective memory. 'The Song of the Murdered Jewish People' describing the extermination of the Jewish life in the Warsaw Ghetto. Holocaust Requiem hhttp://razdolina.hypermart.net/>

It seems as if Razdolina's aim in this new opus is to raise a breathing memorial to the tradition and culture which the Nazis tried to destroy and which has emerged even through the most horrible of times. The way this young composer - who grew up in land in which freedom was a dream and anti-Semitism a daily occurrence - deals with the Holocaust is intriguing. The work which lasts nearly an hour, is comprised of scores for large orchestra, choir and soloist (cantor), to be sung with the Hebrew words of the poem written by the Holocaust poet Itzhack Katzenelson. 'The Song of the Murdered Jewish People', was written during the poet's detention in a transportation camp, Vitel-France, before he was deported to Auschwitz. The poem was buried in Vitel's soil where it was unearthed at the end of the war and was brought to a Museum on the Kibbutz "The Ghetto Fighters" which is named after him.

The poem - a story of the Warsaw Ghetto - was written originally in Yiddish and has now been translated into many languages, including English, German, Hebrew and Russian. Zlata Razdolina (Rosenfeld) composer, author and performer of her own music, was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1959. She began her career in 1978 performing her works in the artist's organization "Lenconcert" in Leningrad. She is a Laureate of many national and international music competitions.

The "Requiem", written for symphony orchestra, choir and soloists, was later performed in Finland, Sweden, Norway, The Czech Republic, USA and Israel.

The worldwide premier performance of the orchestral version of this Requiem was performed last year on the Israeli cable TV and "Kol Ha'musica" on Holocaust Memorial Day.