Art from Ashes, Vol.1

THE JEWISH TRANSCRIPT

Raw and tender, aesthetic and grating, international and local, “Art from the Ashes” is a must-hear for those interested in how the Shoah speaks to us today… Seattle may be on the international map for high tech, coffee, and aeronautics, but not, historically, for Jewish classical music. What Music of Remembrance has done with this disc is to grow a grassroots organization into an international player, with grace, talent, and power. we eagerly anticipate the upcoming volumes. – Avida and Ruth Navarre

SEATTLE TIMES

From the opening swoop of Laura DeLuca’s expert clarinet, there’s a lot of fine playing and singing on this disc of works from the Music of Remembrance series (which performs music inspired by, or dating from, the Holocaust). Two very expressive singers, Erich Parce and Julie Mirel, extract the maximum drama from Paul Schoenfield’s fiercely ironic “Camp Songs,” premiered last year on the series. You’ll also hear Jody Schwarz’s big, supple flute sound in Herman Berlinski’s Flute Sonata (with series director Mina Miller) and David Stock’s telling “A Vanished World” (another premiere), as well as works of Erwin Schulhoff and Robert Dauber. What distinguishes this disc, as with the series, is the very high quality of playing from these artists and such top string players as Mikhai Shmidt, David Tonkonogui, Leonid Keylin and Susan Gulkis Assadi. – Melinda Bargreen

SEATTLE WEEKLY

A fascinating and powerful disc–the contemporary composers’ responses to the Holocaust no less than the rediscovered works by the geniuses whose careers were tragically cut short. Music of Remembrance performs an invaluable service. – Gavin Borchert