Composer Daniel Pelton’s New Album, “Violins of Hope” 

Released on the 80th Anniversary of the Auschwitz Liberation, the album comprises three works by Pelton capturing the history of the Holocaust

To honor the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau 80 years ago on January 27, 1945, The Daniel Pelton Collective has released “Violins of Hope,” a collection of three compositions capturing the tragic history of the Holocaust. 

Created by the acclaimed saxophonist and composer Daniel Pelton, this project was recorded using instruments from the “Violins of Hope” collection — a collection of historical violins that once belonged to Holocaust survivors — brought to the National Music Centre by Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein. 

The album opens with “Klezmer Dances II,” a string quartet inspired by Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 — a response to the firebombing of Dresden during World War II. In the work, Pelton contrasts the intensity of war with the joy and vitality of Jewish Klezmer folk music. 

Moved by the story of real-life victims Lale Sokolov and Gita Furman, Pelton transformed their concentration camp tattoo numbers into musical pitches using their 12-tone counterparts on an A-minor blues scale. This formed the next work on the album, “34902-32407,” where the numbers became the progressions: Eb-E-A-C-D and Eb-D-E-C-G. 

“Given the profound relationship between the real-life characters in the novel, the musical relationship of their tattoos seemed too profound to ignore,” Pelton said. 

“The purpose of this piece is to find expression in these numbers/musical motives; an attempt to reclaim the humanity of those who bore the tattoos. The Nazis gave their prisoners these tattoos to dehumanize them, reducing them to a series of easily discarded numbers. I hope to show that even these numbers have a range of emotions and expressions … Nobody can be reduced to one thing.”

In the album’s final work, Pelton reimagines Oscar Peterson’s “Hymn to Freedom” with a gradual move into a New Orleans dixie-style group solo that captures the energy of newfound freedom. 

To purchase and listen to the album, click here. 

The album trailer can be viewed below.

“Working with [the Violins of Hope instrument collection] was incredibly humbling,” Pelton explained. “Most of the collection have incredibly detailed histories attached to them which were fascinating from a historical perspective, but also heavy emotionally. It could be very hard to keep your head up when confronted with the horror these instruments had witnessed. But it was also incredibly motivating to be a part of their stories and to hopefully contribute to the vision of the collection, and maybe make their previous owners proud.

“I want listeners to imagine the joy of getting your freedom back after it was taken from you, and the duty we have to enjoy ours, and do everything we can to maintain it,” he added. “I hope that the instruments enjoyed their time being played in this piece that only acknowledges the light and leaves the darkness behind.

“Releasing this album on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is not only a tribute to the victims of the most horrific genocide in history, but also a powerful reminder,” he reflected. “We say ‘never forget’ not only to honor the dead, but to warn the living. Eighty years is not a long time. We are not at all different from the people in Germany who became Nazis, or the people who suffered under them. Not repeating their actions is a choice we have to make actively and repeatedly, otherwise we aren’t counting away from the last horrors, but toward the next ones.”

Born in Tokyo and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Pelton is a graduate of the University of Calgary. In addition to leading the University of Calgary Jazz Orchestra, he has also been Composer in Residence at the Calgary Public Library. He is also a prizewinner at the Caneres International Music Competition and winner of the Best Independent Canadian Music Video award.