Hans Krása: Brundibár

List Price: $8.99
Our Price: $0.20
You Save: $8.79 (98%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.19 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details

CD Details

Description of Hans Krása: Brundibár

The music of Brundibár is a mix of pleasant pop tunes, jazz, patter songs, a bit of Stravinsky and a lot of Kurt Weill. The singers speak more than they sing; the ensembles, from duets to chorus, are almost entirely in unison. The orchestration (here as well as in the fast, rhythmically pungent Overture) is colorful and inventive. The story: a brother and sister try to collect money to buy their sick mother milk by singing and dancing in the street but are drowned out and scared away by the organ-grinder Brundibár. A sparrow, a cat, and a dog suggest that there is strength in numbers. When passing schoolchildren join their songs, they attract attention and donations. The moral: ask for help, take a stand, don't submit to bullying! Unfortunately, the famous Tony Kushner's English adaptation of the libretto is distressingly infelicitous; he even misspells "Aninka," the sister's name. The performance, using adult voices, is excellent. The settings by the American composer Lori Laitman (b. 1955) of five poems by children murdered in the death camps capture the mood and character of the texts with uncanny empathy, from bitter humor and defiance to dreamy tenderness, soaring lyricism, and heartbreaking sadness. This is a new arrangement for soprano and clarinet (another version with bassoon was performed in New York in 2001 by the Festival Chamber Music Society). --Edith Eisler

Classical CDs

• Music > Styles
• Miscellaneous
• Pop