Alfred Tokayer by Alfred Tokayer and Amaury du Closel

 

 

Tokayer was a German Jewish composer and conductor who fled to France at the end of 1935 where he served in the Foreign Legion and was sent to Sobibor to be gassed, courtesy of the ever-helpful French police. Most of the works here seem to date from before 1939 but the songs, which seem to convey the careworn years of the Occupation, are from the 1940s. Tokayer was plainly a miniaturist, the longest work being the 15-minute symphonic suite "A Day in the Life of my Child", which oscillates between revue, operetta and light music with a touch of Mahler in its orchestration. Elegant and attractive stuff. No texts. Elsa Levy (soprano), Bertrand Giraud (piano), Sophie Rives (four hands piano), Cécile Peyrol (violin), Daniel Vagner (viola), Agnès Vesterman (cello), Romanian Chamber Orchestra; Amaury du Closel.

 

 

 

All used  disks are professionally refurbished and test played before shipping and will play  well in most machines.

 

cd127-0008-vg