Composers From Theresienstadt 1941-45 (1992)

"Hans Krasa was something of a dilettante and under-achiever until his music achieved tragic prominence in the Nazis' Theresienstadt ghetto camp. It is not just his shrewd eclecticism which brings parallels with Martina. Of the works included here, only Tanz has appeared before. It is more a scherzo movement than a straight 'dance'; the rhythmic underpinning stems from Janacek. The songs are more ascetic in idiom, with an element of French elegance. Both these works were written and premiered in the camp. While the much earlier String Quartet is far from unmemorable, the long opening movement fails to gather momentum as successfully as Jangek's more fragmentary utterances. There is a preponderance of slow, pensive music here, with the benefit of hindsight, unavoidably moving. The Theme and Variations is an unproblematical, directly appealing work based on the melody of the Anna Song, a popular hit for Krasa in the mid-1930s. The multinational La Roche Quartet plays well throughout." (David Gutman, Gramophone)