Bloch: Schelomo & Voice in the Wilderness; Bruch: Kol Nidrei

“Clein's performance [of Schelomo] concentrates, most affectingly, on the atmosphere of deep introspection...thoughtful, subtle and satisfying, well supported by the passionate and spirited BBC Scottish SO...The Bruch, too, receives a lovely performance, with Clein bringing out the different colour of each of the cello's strings and the orchestra effecting most beautifully the transition from sombre to heavenly.” --Gramophone Magazine, September 2012

Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - September 2012

“[Clein's] impassioned, sensitive playing finds willing collaborators in the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and their former principal conductor.” --Sunday Times, 15th July 2012

“Clein is the cello protagonist in all four works, her range of tonal colour, her animation and her discreet soulfulness proving to be ideal qualities...Kol Nidrei is one of the most beautiful works in the entire cello canon, a factor that this performance conveys in a blend of tranquillity and heartfelt ardour.” --The Telegraph, 27th July 2012 *****

“She and Volkov give a performance of Schelomo (1916) that is very moving, both in its profound sensuality and in the pervasive sense of transience that gnaws at its vision of worldly glory...Beautifully done, [Kol Nidrei] brings the disc to a reflective close. Highly recommended.” --The Guardian, 9th August 2012 *****

“As one might expect, Clein delivers a powerfully committed performance, but also manages to avoid over-indulgence, negotiating the peaks and troughs of the music's volatile emotional language with a clear sense of direction...Volkov brings a welcome transparency to Bloch's languorous instrumentation in the reflective sections.” --BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ****

“one of the pleasures of the recital is the meeting of minds between orchestra and soloist, each perfectly partnering the other...It's a lovely piece of programming, tenderly performed.” --bbc.co.uk, 22nd August 2012

Bloch: 4 Episodes, 2 Poems, Concertino & Suite Modale

Bloch is of course best known for his “Jewish ” works…you can hear this in the finale of the Viola Suite, and perhaps most potently as the finale of the Four Episodes. Scored for piano, wind quintet, and strings, the performance here is wonderfully colorful and alive. Hiver-Printemps is one of Bloch’s earliest pieces, a pair of short tone poems that does exactly what the titles say: offer musical portraits of winter, and then spring. The style is impressionist, the scoring pellucidly lovely.

This is one of those discs that, by virtue of its unfamiliar repertoire, might easily be overlooked, but don’t make that mistake. You’d be missing excellent performances of very high-quality, enjoyable music… --ClassicsToday.com, July 2007

A fascinating and highly rewarding collection, involving two soloists, two orchestras and, in the case of the Four Episodes, scored (in 1926) for a combination of string quintet, wind quintet and piano. The most striking Episode is the well-named Humoresque macabre, while in the second, Obsession, Bloch spiritedly anticipates minimalism with the same five-bar motive repeated two dozen times, in continuous variation. The pastoral Calm, with its shepherd’s pipe, suggests nature, and the closing Chinese evocation is piquantly exotic. The Two Poems are earlier (1905) and are appropriately titled in French, for there is an atmospheric warmth and transparency to the scoring which has influences from both Debussy and Ravel. But perhaps the highlights are the two late concertante works; the charming three-movement Concertino for violin and viola (1948) ends with a fugue which then gives birth to a lively polka. The Suite Modale, with a serene ancient-and-modern flavour, was written in 1956, three years before the composer’s death—an engagingly nostalgic reverie, interrupted by a bright central Gigue. The performances here are excellent, all very persuasively directed by Dalia Atlas; they are splendidly played and given top-quality Naxos sound. A disc not to be missed. --Penguin Guide, January 2009 ***

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Bloch: Violin Sonatas

'Hagai Shaham…(compared to Isaac Stern's recording of the first sonata) plays with similar intensity if not with equally ecstatic frenzy … Hagai Shaham, who has championed the music of violinist-composers Joseph Achron and, more recently, Jenö Hubay, produces a steely rather than a sumptuous tone. His grandiloquent oratorical flourishes, as well as his edgy technical display, therefore flash like tempered steel, however, leaving the least trace of coldness … So another disc or so from Shaham could encompass everything Bloch wrote for the violin (and perhaps even include the concerto). Given the strong appeal of this initial offering, that's a consummation devoutly to be wished. Highly recommended' --Fanfare Magazine

'With fine engineering, realistically balanced, and excellent annotation, this is a digital front-runner' (Gramophone)

'Played with lean intensity and dead-centre intonation reminiscent of the young Heifetz, these neglected works come fizzing off the page to mesmerising effect' (Classic FM Magazine)

'Mix Bartok, Debussy and a dash of Lisztian bravado and you'll get something very close to Bloch's folksong-inflected, post-Romantic sound-world. Intoxicating performances guaranteed to set the pulse racing' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Shaham impresses in all aspects of these sonatas. His manner is fiery, his tone is full-bodied from a top of great purity to a bottom deep and resonant, and he tosses off the virtuoso passages with aplomb. Erez is a full partner, sometimes coming close to usurping the lead, which can be all to the good here. He roams the keyboard with assurance, playing with crisp exactitude and full-bodied tone' (Classicstoday.com)

Remembrance

“John Neschling draws convincing performances from his São Paolo forces. Stephen Bronk narrates the Schoenberg clearly; Sharon Bezaly and Vadim Gluzman are eloquent instrumental soloists. …Rodrigo Esteves is a completely convincing cantorial baritone.” --BBC Music Magazine

"The Sala São Paolo opened in 1999; judging from this disc, it is a spectacular success. Highly recommended!" --Fanfare

The disc opens and closes with the works by two Austrian composers forced to flee Europe because of their Jewish heritage. Schoenberg composed his setting of the Jewish prayer Kol Nidre in 1938 for the Los Angeles synagogue, and in 1944 the same congregation commissioned a new setting of Psalm 92 from Erich Zeisl. Soon after the commission Zeisl received the tragic news of the death of his father and several friends in the Holocaust.

Framed by these two vocal works are two purely instrumental ones: Bernstein’s Halil (from the Hebrew word for flute) was dedicated to Yadin Tannenbaum, a young Israeli soldier and flautist who was killed in 1973 in his tank in Sinai, while Ernest Bloch wrote his Baal Shem in memory of his mother. The vibrant music is performed by the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and conductor John Neschling (incidentally Schoenberg’s grandson).