Ernest Bloch: Complete Works for Viola & Piano
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CD Details
Composer: Ernest BlochPerformer: Lisa Smirnova
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-03-14
Music Label: Arte Nova Classics
Soundtracks:
- I. Lento. Allegro
- II. Allegro Ironico
- III. Lento
- IV. Molto Vivo
- I. Rapsodie
- II. Processional
- III. Affirmation
- Meditation
- Processional
- I. Andante
- II. Moderato
- III. Andante
- IV. Allegro Deciso
Music reviews of Ernest Bloch: Complete Works for Viola & Piano
Music Review: Ernest Bloch for Viola
Rating: 4 Stars
With its haunting, somewhat hollow voice between the violin and the cello, the viola is too-frequently overlooked as a solo instrument. A composer who is also too-frequently overlooked, Ernest Bloch (1880-1959), was among the composers who understood and used the potential of the viola to sing in its own voice. I had the opportunity to hear and review Bloch's viola music in an excellent recording with violist Paul Cortese and pianist Michel Wagemans Bloch: Chamber Music with Viola, and was inspired enough to seek out another recording. This budget-priced Arte Nova recording of Bloch's complete works for viola and piano dates from 2002 but was not released until 2006. It features two outstanding young musicians of Russian background, violist Daniel Raiskin and pianist Lisa Smirnova, who play this music with heart. The Cortese CD includes a trio for viola, flute and piano that is not included here. But this CD does well in presenting Bloch for viola. The liner notes are more descriptive than in the Cortese CD.
Bloch spent much of his life in the United States. Most of his music hearks back to late romanticism. He is best known for his attempt to compose in a distinctly Jewish manner and to capture the idiom of the synagogue and the Jewish song in his work. His music is improvisatory, wandering, modal and passionate. The viola was an ideal medium for Bloch with its lyricism and low, melancholy voice. Block writes in long sizzling passages full of vibrato, modal scales, and singing. Bloch wrote for the solo instrument 1n 1919, shortly after he had moved to the United States and in the 1950s when he had returned following an interlude in Switzerland. His four works for viola and piano and for unaccompanied viola are presented here.
Bloch's earliest work for the instrument was the lengthy and idiosyncratic Suite for viola and piano (1919) which won the Coolidge Prize in the year of its composition. This romantic music is in an exotic arte nouveau style which reminded me of Zemlinsky. Bloch had originally given each of the four movements alluringly descriptive titles but he dropped them to allow free play to the listener's imagination. This is music that appeals to the heart. The work opens with a slow introduction followed by an allegro that is in turns passionate and reflective. There is a pulsating scherzo movement and a nocturnal lento. The work concludes with a lively triumphal movement marked molto vivo which Bloch had originally titled "The Land of the Sun." For all its immediacy, this work takes several hearings to appreciate fully. Perhaps its sprawling length keeps this work from more frequent performances. But it will reward hearing.
Bloch's most famous work for the instrument is the three-movement "Suite Hebraique" (1950) which also is available as a suite for violin and piano and in an orchestral version for each of the two instruments. In its wailing sing-song melancholy and moments of hope and affirmation, the work was Bloch's attempt to capture something of the Jewish approach to God. The opening pleading movement is reminiscent of the voice of a cantor singing alone. The strongly affirmative Processional captures Congregational singing while the concluding Affirmation moves from a subdued opening to a triumphal expression of faith. Bloch captured the spirit of this work in an additional composition of two movements, the "Meditation and Processional for Viola and Piano." (1951) The opening Meditation is intense while the concluding Processional is more lyrical and joyful than its counterpart in the Suite.
Bloch's final composition of any type was his "Suite for Viola Solo" (1958) This is a short work in four interconnected movements which remains unfinished. Bloch's creative spirit did not desert him in this work of old age. The Suite combines elements of Bach's contrapuntal writing for solo string instruments with an atonality derived from Schoenberg. The work still retains its romantic highly emotive feel, found in the three other works on this CD. In its unfinished state, the work ends on a high, unresolved note which seems to me emblematic of the searching character of the entire piece.
Listeners who love having their heartstings pulled will enjoy this CD. This music captures the spirit of the viola and of a romantic composer of the 20th Century who deserves to be remembered.
Robin Friedman
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Description of Ernest Bloch: Complete Works for Viola & Piano
Ernest Bloch (1880-1959), whose Hebrew roots resonated in his music throughout a lifetime of composition, had a particular affection for the sound of the viola. In this musical offering Daniel Raiskin and Lisa Smirnova, both trained in the best Russian-European musical tradition, explore the influence of their own Jewish origins that found such profound utterance through Bloch?s musical voice. Violist Daniel Raiskin is a passionate advocate of his instrument and ranks among the finest players in Europe. Pianist Lisa Smirnova is widely known and esteemed as a concert and chamber musician.Classical CDs
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