The Rosendorf Quartet

The Rosendorf Quartet are four German Jews, members of the symphony orchestra founded in 1936 in Tel Aviv, who together play chamber music until the outbreak of World War II. Only one of them, the second violin, chooses to stay in the country. His colleagues, refugees from Hitler's Germany, go into exile. Each of the members of the quartet tells his story in the first person. Kurt Rosendorf, the first violin and founder of the quartet, would like to believe that a musician's true homeland is music. Having had to leave his Christian wife and his daughter in Berlin, he finds it hard to adjust to life in Palestine and tries to live "outside history and geography." The viola is played by Eva Staubenfeld, who during her temporary sojourn in Palestine seeks to satisfy both her hunger for eternal music and her sexual desires. Bernard Litovsky, the cellist, is tired of wandering and longs for firm ground and a sense of belonging. In addition to these, there is the viewpoint of Loewenthal, who accompanies the musicians from the beginning, uncovering the complex relationships that evolve among them.


Shaham is a master, and just as the instruments in a quartet can conflict and contrast but blend into a single sound, so the themes this artist explores merge into a total vision of balance and sanity.
Newsday

What is remarkable...is the persistent strength and interest of Shaham's central concerns.
New Yorker

Shaham's study of refugees trying to live for music during a historic moment of supreme disaster and hope is chamber music of a high order.
Kirkus Reviews