# Ernest Bloch



## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Any fans of this Swiss-American composer? Third Ear Classical Music called him among the most underrated of all composers.

I very much enjoy his *Israel Symphony*, *Symphony for Trombone*, the Hebraic Rhapsody *Schelomo*, *Suite Symphonique*, his more objective *Symphony in E flat* with the *3 Jewish Poems*, Menhuin's rendition of the *Violin Concerto*, and the powerful Brahms-_ish_ *First Piano Quintet*.

He wrote another symphony in C minor, more Straussian and less compact, that I don't find on the same level.

He seems to me a romantic akin to Barber with added mysticism and perhaps cinematic appeal.


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I absolutely love that Symphony in C sharp minor. It's one of the most deeply felt, powerful works I know of. I know I'm in the minority since it's not at all well-known and live performances never happen. The three recordings are all wanting in some respect, although the one on BIS is likely as good as it will ever get. Powerful stuff, and anyone who enjoys Mahler, R Strauss, Wagner or even Bruckner should find much to enjoy.

I like Schelomo, and like the above symphony is a deeply emotional work. I've had the pleasure of playing it several times - the contrabassoon part - which is always a challenge, especially if the conductor can't figure out how to handle the polymeters.

His Poems of the Sea I find very pleasant, too, and the Suite symphonique good. I have collected an awful lot of his music, most of it well worth listening to. The American Rhapsody is not one of his finer scores, though. The chamber music is excellent - modern but not unlistenably so. I just realized it's been 30 years since the first Ernest Bloch summer festival concert in Oregon! I have a friend and orchestra pal who played in that festival for years until it was stopped. It says a lot when a modern composer would be so recognized. This disk is terrific:


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

_Schelomo_, Hebraic Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra ranks as one of the true masterpieces of 20th Century music, even if it does not delve into the more experimental or avant-garde schools of that era. _Schelomo_ truly exudes the power to conjure up thoughts that, as poet William Wordsworth suggested, "do often lie too deep for tears."

One of my favorite recordings of this masterwork features cellist Zara Nelsova with Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra on a Vanguard Classics disc, 08 4047 71, a recording made in Salt Lake City in 1967.









Looking over my disc collection I'm somewhat surprised to see how much of Bloch's chamber music I have on hand. These include the complete string quartets and such stunning works as _Baal Shem_ (Three Pictures of Chassidic Life) written in 1923 and the Suite Hebraique for Viola & Piano (1950). I find I tend to favor the overtly Hebraique influenced music of Bloch; no one does this stuff better. Bloch imbues his music with a deep sense of Hebrew tradition and history, the sufferings and the triumphs, that, in the end, are rather a universal part of the entire human experience.















Another fine disc.

Thank you, larold, for bringing Bloch back to our attention. Much great music here to be explored and/or revisited.


----------



## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

larold said:


> Any fans of this Swiss-American composer? Third Ear Classical Music called him among the most underrated of all composers.
> 
> I very much enjoy his *Israel Symphony*, *Symphony for Trombone*, the Hebraic Rhapsody *Schelomo*, *Suite Symphonique*, his more objective *Symphony in E flat* with the *3 Jewish Poems*, Menhuin's rendition of the *Violin Concerto*, and the powerful Brahms-_ish_ *First Piano Quintet*.
> 
> ...


To the worthy recommendations here I would add the four string quartets, and the imo justly famous 1954 recording of them by the Griller quartet on Decca. I grew up with the LPs and consider them a cornerstone of my collection, though eventually they were released on CD too.


----------



## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

larold said:


> Any fans of this Swiss-American composer? Third Ear Classical Music called him among the most underrated of all composers.
> 
> I very much enjoy his *Israel Symphony*, *Symphony for Trombone*, the Hebraic Rhapsody *Schelomo*, *Suite Symphonique*, his more objective *Symphony in E flat* with the *3 Jewish Poems*, Menhuin's rendition of the *Violin Concerto*, and the powerful Brahms-_ish_ *First Piano Quintet*.
> 
> ...


[Raising my hand] Yes! I am a fan of Ernest Bloch and am aiming to get more into his music in the coming weeks. "Welch ein Zufall!" as we say in German... what a (pleasant) coincidence that you posted this today.

I have known Bloch only these past few years mostly through the occasional air time he gets on WFMT. I do own one disc, pictured below, and listened to it through for the third or fourth time after noticing this thread. The disc is from the Mercury Living Presence Vol. 3 box set.

As for _Schelomo_, it seems this is a pretty well known and admired work. I love it. I don't find anything wrong with the Hanson/Eastman recording, but I am aware that there are more professional orchestras and virtuoso cellists who have recorded it. After buying recordings of some additional works like those mentioned by other enthusiasts, I will probably need to get one of these.

I am much more fond of the Concerto Grosso No. 1 than I am of No. 2. No. 1 has a marvelous interplay of strings and piano in addition to being a delightful marriage of Baroque counterpoint and modern tonality. This piece is my perfect example of "listenability." No. 2 is fine, but it isn't a gem like No. 1. Apparently neither of these Concertos has been recorded much, but I do notice that Schwarz/Seattle SO offer No. 1 paired with _America_, which sounds like a nice disc to have.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Inspired by this thread, I listened to parts of the Symphony in C Sharp today (too impatient to sit through the whole thing). Really liked it! Despite its length, there are many beautiful ideas and much creative orchestration. A unique late-Romantic voice despite the Mahler/Strauss influence. The only other work of his I've heard is the Concerto Grosso No. 1 that came on that album seltzpf mentions above. I will be exploring more...so much music, so little time.


----------



## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

_Thank you, larold, for bringing Bloch back to our attention. Much great music here to be explored and/or revisited._

You're welcome. Abravanel's recording of *Schelomo* and the* Israel Symphony* is among my favorite Bloch recordings. The symphony as played by Abravanel and Utah SO is vastly underrated, in my opinion.


----------



## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

This recording of the *Symphony for Trombone* and *Suite Symphonique*, connected to other dramatic 20th century works by Diamond, Klee and Bergsma, set me on my path with this composer.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

For many years the Eastman recording of the two Concerti Grossi was about the only thing most people knew (Chou San Goh choreographed No. 1 with the Washington Ballet many years ago). I'm glad to see other pieces becoming more well known.


----------



## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

MarkW said:


> For many years the Eastman recording of the two Concerti Grossi was about the only thing most people knew (Chou San Goh choreographed No. 1 with the Washington Ballet many years ago). I'm glad to see other pieces becoming more well known.


That 1960 Hanson/Eastman recording is indeed (and long has been) well-known to vinyl LP collectors, as it is one of the early stereo Mercury Living Presence releases prized for their sound. But it is Schelomo for Cello and Orchestra, which of course is included in the CD issue pictured in a post above but originally was released by Mercury on a separate LP, that is probably Bloch's most famous work.

If as you say (and I don't doubt it) that recording is what brought Bloch to prominence in the US, kudos to Howard Hanson and his Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra, who made so many great recordings of imo under-appreciated orchestral music, much of it from the early to mid-20th century.

Violinists have long made a standard of a three-movement work called Baal Shem - Three Pictures of Chassidic Life, especially the second movement, Nigun.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The only recording I have is the Koch CD containing his piano quintets performed by the American Chamber Players. I heard the first one on the radio which really grabbed my attention so I bought the CD.


----------



## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

starthrower said:


> The only recording I have is the Koch CD containing his piano quintets performed by the American Chamber Players. I heard the first one on the radio which really grabbed my attention so I bought the CD.


I have those quintets on a CD with the Pro Arte Quartet and Howard Karp. I'll have to dig that out.


----------



## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

I have a few CDs of his orchestral music, Dalia Atlas conducting, on Naxos. C!early, clearly proper music, very well -orchestrated, and worth hearing. It hasn't really registered overall, as a distinctive voice, though, and I keep meaning to give him another go, especially because......

....those Quartets (I've got the Grillers too) are absolutely wonderful pieces!!


----------



## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

CnC Bartok said:


> I have a few CDs of his orchestral music, Dalia Atlas conducting, on Naxos. C!early, clearly proper music, very well -orchestrated, and worth hearing. It hasn't really registered overall, as a distinctive voice, though, and I keep meaning to give him another go, especially because......
> 
> ....those Quartets (I've got the Grillers too) are absolutely wonderful pieces!!


I too am a big fan of the quartets, and anyone else who is should definitely look into the piano quintets, which like the quartets come from different times in his career and life -- the first one from 1923, and the second and very late one from 1957. However, I detect no sign of flagging energy or inventiveness in the later one, though it is shorter.


----------



## sstucky (Apr 4, 2020)

What about the 1933 Sacred Service, recorded by Bernstein c. 1960?


----------



## leonsm (Jan 15, 2011)

He is amazing, I love everything I heard from him until now, which is: Schelomo, Concerto Symphonique, Israel Symphony, Concerto Grosso no. 1, Suite for Violin and Orchestra, Poems of the Sea, Symphony in C-sharp Minor, Baal Shem, Avodath Hakodesh (“Sacred Service”)...


----------



## Dirge (Apr 10, 2012)

These are the Bloch works that I've listened to most over the years (along with my favorite recording of each):

*Schelomo: Rhapsodie Hébraïque* for cello solo and large orchestra (1916)
:: Rose, Mitropoulos/Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York [Columbia '51]




"One may imagine the voice of the solo cello is the voice of King Schelomo [King Solomon]. The complex voice of the orchestra is the voice of his age … his world … his experience … 'Vanity, Vanity-all is Vanity'…. The cello cadence then puts this pessimistic philosophy into words."

Think of Bloch's King Solomon as the somewhat less optimistic, humorous, and quixotic Jewish counterpart to Strauss's Don Quixote.

There are many and varied recordings to choose from, but Rose's noble restraint in the face of the orchestra's vain outpourings is very affecting and effective, and it leads to a well-nigh ideal balance/relationship between soloist and orchestra-and it doesn't hurt that Mitropoulos and company play their part with biblical intensity.

*Violin Sonata No. 1* (1920)
:: Stern & Zakin [Columbia '59]




This intense, almost relentless work is quasi-Bartókian in spirit but rather more drawn-out and rhetorical in style, with a certain Jewish accent to the more lyrical themes. Bartók is known to have played this sonata in recital, presumably with Szigeti at one time or another-a fascinating thing to imagine. That said, Stern & Zakin play the bejesus out of it in what is to my ears the long-standing duo's most compelling performance on record.

*Piano Quintet No. 1* (1923)
:: Casella, Pro Arte Quartet [HMV '33]




This is a very dramatic work with an engagingly eerie/mysterious atmosphere, but it's a bit long-winded and threatens to outstay its welcome unless it's played with great focus & concentration and tension is unflaggingly maintained throughout, which is how it's played by Casella and the old Pro Arte Quartet.

*Concerto Grosso No. 1* for string orchestra with piano obbligato (1925)
:: Kubelik/CSO [Mercury '51]




This entertaining quasi-neoclassical work sounds like a mash-up of various early 20th-century British works, mostly string works … with piano obbligato. I'm reminded here and there of Elgar's Introduction and Allegro, Britten's Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge, and various and sundry works of Bridge and Holst. Kubelik and the CSO (a great team for the short while they were together) give it a tough and vigorous performance that makes others sound prissy in comparison.

*String Quartet No. 2* (1945)
:: Griller Quartet [Decca '54] not to be confused with the same team's 1947 recording




Bloch composed very little during WWII, but he managed to hammer out the highly wrought Second Quartet even as he immersed himself in the study of J. S. Bach. The work is intensely earnest and plaintive if not grim in mien, but it sounds more Beethoven-inspired than Bach-inspired, even in the passacaglia and fugue of the final movement. Bloch himself thought it a rather dry and bland work and was surprised by its immediate and great critical success: it received a boatload of awards, and the leading British music critic of the day deemed it "the finest work of our time in this genre, one that is worthy to stand beside the last quartets of Beethoven." Twenty years later it was largely forgotten.

*String Quartet No. 3* (1952)
:: Griller Quartet [Decca '54] not to be confused with the same team's 1953 recording




The rigorous and somewhat severe Third Quartet is pared-down and economical in comparison with its predecessor, and it has moved past the grimness of war to something more industrial and mid-century American … laced with Bloch's not-too-expressionist brand of Expressionism and a lingering Old World tie to Maurice Ravel's brand of neoclassicism-the latter most apparent in the beautiful slow movement. The Griller Quartet plays with a severity and trenchancy that belie its Englishness and challenge the early '60s Juilliard Quartet.

* * *

Fans of Bloch's quartets may want to check out Elizabeth Maconchy's String Quartet No. 5 (1948), which superficially sounds a hell of a lot like Bloch's String Quartet No. 2½. It's another one of those works that met with great critical acclaim early on only to be soon forgotten.
:: Bingham Quartet [Unicorn-Kanchana '89]


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I need more of Bloch's music. I just got done listening to the violin sonata, and Baal Shem. These are great works to my ears.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

After listening to some of his orchestral works, I have to say I prefer his chamber music. Although I do like the Suite Hebraique.


----------



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

starthrower said:


> After listening to some of his orchestral works, I have to say I prefer his chamber music. Although I do like the Suite Hebraique.


Define _some_? What have you heard of the orchestral works? In my mind, works like _Voice in the Wilderness_, the _Violin Concerto_, _Hiver-Printemps_, _Evocations_ and _Sacred Service_ are masterpieces. I do love his chamber music as well.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The violin concerto is okay. It didn't blow me away. I also gave the Israel symphony a listen. I wasn't crazy about it. I did order a used CD on the BIS label by the Malmo Symphony which features the Symphony in C Sharp minor, and Shelomo.


----------



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

starthrower said:


> The violin concerto is okay. It didn't blow me away. I also gave the Israel symphony a listen. I wasn't crazy about it. I did order a used CD on the BIS label by the Malmo Symphony which features the Symphony in C Sharp minor, and Shelomo.


But how much time have you spent with the music? I've been listening to Bax for almost 15 years and I still can't stand him, so I guess this is my subtle way of saying give the music more time. You may feel differently down the road.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Neo Romanza said:


> But how much time have you spent with the music? I've been listening to Bax for almost 15 years and I still can't stand him, so I guess this is my subtle way of saying give the music more time. You may feel differently down the road.


Oh, I understand that. I will try different performances of the concerto. I think the Suite Hebraique is beautiful. I listened to a recording by Gerard Causse. And I love Baal Shem. I have a piano/violin version by Elmar Oliviera.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Bax can be a tough nut to crack. I can never remember anything about his symphonies and I've listened to them several times.


----------

