The music of the preeminent Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis emerges out of deep cultural and historical currents. His artistic and political actions are against forgetting. Numerous times his work has been deemed dangerous and banned by unauthorized legislators. Theodorakis composed the Mauthausen songs cycle in 1965. The cycle is from Greek poems by the poet Iakovos Kambanellis. Kambanellis was interned in the Nazi concentration camp of Mauthausen in Austria. Theodorakis’ musical aim was to serve the solemn poetry faithfully. Theodorakis’ political aim was to memorialize the horrors of WW II. Mauthausen has become one of the composer’s most famous and beloved masterpieces. This recording in Hebrew honors the 50th anniversary of Mauthausen and is a 90th birthday tribute to Mikis Theodorakis. It features Lina Orfanos, one of Theodorakis’ beloved vocalists, and the Shanghai Quartet. Deserters is a song cycle based on the poetry of Yannis Theodorakis, the younger brother of Mikis Theodorakis. The music echoes the Byzantine melos and while different from Mauthausen there is a correspondence of moods. The landscape that inspired the poetry of Yannis Theodorakis was Chania, Crete during the early 1950s, a time of encroaching modernization. The cycle is sung in Greek and speaks of interior despair and protest over lost love. A letter from the composer Theodorakis to the vocalist Orfanos: My dear Lina, I thank you very much for your participation at Lycabettus and your thrilling interpretation of “Mauthausen.” Reading the “in-depth” interview you gave, I love and respect you even more, along with your amazing parents and especially your “witness” mother. As you understand, the tragedy at the death camps is the most traumatic and torturous experience of my life. It goes beyond human comprehension and becomes a constant nightmare that has entered my blood, and is present every moment … And ever since fills me with ambivalences and fear for humankind. Because those who did these things were humans and also educated, nursed on Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner! Therefore, the Beast-Chaos is, it seems, stronger than the Harmony-Goodness-Love inside every human, ready to knock us down at every moment. That which saved me was and is Music, that sublime gift to humans who can still be considered humans. Because most, especially today, possibly without wishing, slide towards Chaos. You, like me, have two strong claims to hold you Upright, True and Strong in this distressing situation that surrounds us. Music and the Great Wound … So you have learned my secret: All my notes are nothing but blood which drips from my incurable wound. (Because do not forget that besides the Great Beast of the Nazis we had our own Beasts). So listening to you yesterday, my music abruptly became heartache … It was all those innocent children that were led by women-beasts into the gas chambers and then they returned peacefully and well to their country, they had children, grandchildren, and drive around in Mercedes and now with money as a weapon they are in with the Bankers of Europe and of America like locusts on our land. It was not enough the 1,000,000 victims their grandfathers left behind, now they wish to the rest of our blood and to transform us into human shadows. The only things that are missing are the barbed wires, the numbers on our arms and the yellow star on the heart … Lina, I love you and I thank you and I wish you to find happiness while embracing Music and Song. Kisses to your parents, Mikis Theodorakis 31 August 2010