<< -- 2 -- Robert Anderson PASSION AND INTEGRITY
Schelomo is Bloch's best-known cello work; but there is also
the orchestral Voice in the Wilderness. For the rest, this CD shows
what emphasis Bloch placed on cello sonorities. It is significant that
the first two unaccompanied Suites are dedicated to the Canadian cellist,
Zara Nelsova. Bloch first met her in 1949, and she was at once asked to
participate in a London festival of his music. He was later to remark in
gratitude: 'Nelsova is my music'. This only underlines
how naturally Bloch's declamatory eloquence took to the cello.
The three pieces From Jewish Life date from 1924, and the opening
'Prayer', recorded long ago by Bloch and Nelsova, shows at once
the cogency of Bloch's rhetoric [listen -- track
1, 0:00-0:59]. The Méditation hébraïque of
the same year starts more sombrely but rises also to a high pitch of intensity
[listen -- track 4, 0:00-1:27]. These two works
are all Bloch wrote for cello and piano; but Peter Bruns has appropriated
also the Baal Shem violin pieces for his instrument, so that we can
hear as well these three of Chassidic life, the inner thoughts of mystical
Jewish sectaries. The final 'Rejoicing' commemorates the moment
when Moses hands on the torch to the Jewish people [listen
-- track 20, 1:51-2:50].
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Copyright © 24 December 2000
Robert Anderson, London, UK
CD INFORMATION - OPUS 111 OPS 30-232
PURCHASE THIS DISC FROM AMAZON
PURCHASE THIS DISC FROM CROTCHET
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