This CD box set, released seventy years after World War II ended, contains music composed by those who were persecuted during that same war; any performance of these works was strictly forbidden at the time. Nineteen Dutch composers were deported to concentration camps of which only six survived the atrocities. Others went into hiding or they survived using fake identities. Almost all saw their musical career end inopportunely.

The untimely loss of these composers dealt a severe blow to Dutch music history and as a result the musical landscape was completely altered. A new generation of musicians was eager to fill the void and during these years of reconstruction a new type of music evolved rapidly moving towards what was later called modernism. The new aesthetics pushed composers away from writing a charming melody, using harmonious chords, or pleasing and moving the audience. Pre-war music was considered corny, dilettantish, conservative and hopelessly outdated. Instead, atonality, extremism and a conceptual outlook dominated the scene. Therefore, this box set is designed to revalidate the generation of composers that was lost in the war. Over the past twenty years, The Leo Smit Foundation has done research on these maltreated, forgotten composers and their works. Artistic manager Eleonore Pameijer assisted Etcetera in assembling the set from a collection of previously released recordings on a range of other labels. CD no. 10 however, contains a number of surprises and premières on CD.

Artists

Jacques Zoon (flute), Dimitri Ferschtman (piano), Ronald Brautigam (piano), Doris Hochscheid (cello), Frans van Ruth (piano), Isabelle van Keulen (violin), Viotta Ensemble, Ebony Quartet, Members of the Ebony Quartet, Asdis Valdimarsdottir (viola), Marcel Worms (piano), Eleonore Pameijer (flute), Emi Ohi Resnick & Ursula Schoch (violins), Irene Maessen (soprano), Marcel Worms & Lodewijk Crommelin (pianos), Marieke van der Ven (tapdancing), Ursula Schoch (violin), Stephan Heber (cello), Marijke van Kooten (violin), Anja van Wijk (mezzo-soprano), Pieter Wispelwey (cello), Philippe Entremont (viola), Ivar Berix (clarinet), Edith van Moergastel (viola), Doris Hochschied (cello), Utrechts String Quartet, Marja Bon (piano), Erika Waardenburg (harp), Raymond Delnove (flute), Michal Shamir (soprano), Vag Papian (piano), Martin Kaaij (guitar), Jacobien Rozemond (violin), Gilad Nezer (baritone), Marianne Boer (piano), Marjo Tal (piano)

Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Het Brabants Orkest, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Jac van Steen, Ed Spanjaard, Eugen Jochum, Bernard Haitink, George Szell, Daniel Raiskin, Rafael Kubelik, Marc Soustrot, Klaas Stok