Lest we forget

PRESS RELEASE

Lest we forget (TP185)

MERLYN QUAIFE : soprano *ANDREA KATZ : piano

*Walter Würzburger Vereinsamt

* Victor Jara Manifiesto

* Randy Newman Political Science

* Dennis Vaughan Mary 's plea

* Henri Duparc Elégie

* Alec Volkoviski Schtiler, schtiler

* Abel Meeropol (aka Lewis Allen) Strange fruit

* Cabaret songs from Kamp! (Maria Theresia the Empress ,

Theresienstadt Questions, The Little Café in Terezin,

Letter to my Child, A Suitcase Speaks)

* Arnold Bax Rann of Exile

* Oscar Straus Altes Ghettoliedchen, Op 108

* Francis Poulenc C

* Dennis Vaughan Words are history

* Kurt Weill Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib

* John Lennon Imagine

* Randy Newman In Germany before the war

* Franz Liszt Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh

Welcome to the world 's first "classical " protest CD. The music is wide ranging, from Germany, France, England, Austria, Chile, USA, and Australia, covering issues as diverse as world wars, the Holocaust, dictatorships and the stolen generation. It is a no-holds-barred plea for humanity to get a grip on humanitarian values, before it is too late.

This CD has been undertaken as a labour-of-love by the artists and by Tall Poppies, and the profits will be shared with the Fitzroy Learning Network in Melbourne.

This organisation gives educational and other assistance to refugees in Australia. (www.fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au/)

"This collection of songs began as a protest against recent events in our country, to remind ourselves that the relaxed and

comfortable culture our government was intent on bringing us was in fact based on lies, fear, threats, apathy, hatred and the glorification of small-minded selfishness. Above them all, and most perniciously, came the vaunting fallacy that this selfish

indifference was quite acceptable, the idea that not caring is somehow simply human and a harmless and innocent thing to do.

Listen to our songs. Not caring is never harmless.

All the songs were written by and about people whose plight was caused because others did not care enough to see; or even worse, they saw and did not care enough to stop what was happening. The songs, born of suffering or the knowledge of suffering,

demonstrate compassion and even love. That is what gives them their strength: the real voice of humanity."

Merlyn Quaife and Andrea Katz

Distribution to Australian retailers by Tall Poppies.

ph: 02 9552 4020 * fax: 02 9552 4395 * email: tpoffice@iinet.net.au

For further media information and review copies please contact:

Carli Ratcliff, Publicist 02 9960 4878 /0407 438 002 carli@publicite.com.au

View Tall Poppies ' complete catalogue online at www..tallpoppies.net

Tall Poppies is unique in Australia in that it commissions works for recording.

In its 15 year history, Tall Poppies has commissioned over 50 new works.

Tall Poppies CDs are distributed in the UK, USA, Japan, Switzerland and on-line.

ABC Classic CD of the week

for the week beginning Monday 24 April 2006

Lest We Forget

Tall Poppies TP185

Merlyn Quaife, soprano Andrea Katz, piano

This is a remarkable and moving testament to human endurance and spirit. This collection of songs is inspired by war and its appalling human cost, and by our longing for peace. It's far from a run of the mill recital disc - the composers include Poulenc, Victor Jara, Bax, Weill and John Lennon, among others. There are art songs of all kinds, as well as cabaret songs from the infamous Theresienstadt camp.

The Sydney Morning Herald

June 2006

"... The sequence of some tracks is so hard-hitting as to almost defy listening in a single session."
Peter McCallum