Ullmann completed his Seventh Sonata in Terezin (Theresienstadt) shortly before being transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Inevitably, these tragic circumstances color one's perception of this piece and make it all the more poignant. But by all standards, these variations and fugue are a gripping, powerful, and affecting work with its desperate B-A-C-H quotes in the fugue.
Whereas the other movements of the sonata are relatively cheerful, reminding one of Prokofiev and Martinu, this final movement is entirely Ullmann's own, blending anguish, resignation, and defiance into a convincing whole of tremendous emotional impact.
| Ullmann - Sonata No.7 (1944) A mes enfants Max, Jean, Felice |
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| 5 | Variations and Fugue on a Jewish folk song | 7:27 | Breemer, C. | |
