Ernest Bloch - Israel Symphony; Schelomo (Maurice Abravanel; Zara Nelsova)

Information

Composer: Ernest Bloch

1. Schelomo, Hebraic Rhapsody for cello & orchestra
2. Israel Symphony: I. Adagio molto (Prayer in the Desert)
3. Israel Symphony: II. Allegro agitato (Yom Kippur)
4. Israel Symphony: III. Moderato (Succoth)

Zara Nelsova, cello (1)
Blanche Christensen, soprano (2-4)
Jean Basinger Fraenkel, soprano (2-4)
Diane Heder, mezzo-soprano (2-4)
Christina Politis, mezzo-soprano (2-4)
Don Watts, bass (2-4)
Utah Symphony Orchestra
Maurice Abravanel, conductor

Date: 1967
Label: Vanguard Classics

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Review

Schelomo receives its mead of barbarous splendour at the hands of Nelsova and Abravanel. The recording is a shade too warm but Nelsova (who recorded far too little) who studied the piece with the composer demonstrates her familiarity and sympathy with the piece. This is essential as Schelomo is one of those works that can easily seem nondescript if the artists involved are unengaged. In that sense it is rather like the Bax cello concerto (still awaiting its ideal exponent on disc). This is Nelsova's second, recording of the work. The feverish grip of the music is strongly asserted.

The Israel Symphony, like Schelomo, is a single movement although the work falls into sections each of which Vanguard have banded. It does not share the gaudy barbarity of Schelomo. I would place it in the company of the symphonies of Respighi (Drammatica) and Dohnanyi (1 and 2) or indeed Bloch's epic C Minor Symphony. He uses five solo voices in the finale and provided words only to give the voices syllables to sing rather than the usual vocalisations. In fact the score directs that the singers are to be placed among the orchestra. The music is less self-consciously Semitic than in Schelomo. Sidney Finkelstein's notes claim the splendour and turbulence of Biblical times. I hear none of that but there is no mistaking the concise excitement and generalised splendour (almost Mahlerian) of the Allegro agitato. The Symphony is not otherwise available.

This decently recorded disc is certainly well worth seeking out.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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Ernest Bloch (July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer.  Bloch's musical style does not fit easily into any of the usual categories; he studied variously with Jaques-Dalcroze, Iwan Knorr and Ludwig Thuille, as well as corresponding with Mahler and meeting Debussy. Many of his works - as can be seen from their Hebrew-inspired titles - also draw heavily on his Jewish heritage. He held several teaching appointments in the U.S., with George Antheil, Frederick Jacobi, Quincy Porter, Bernard Rogers, and Roger Sessions among his pupils.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Bloch

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Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American conductor of classical music. In 1947 he was hired as music director of the Utah Symphony, and over the next 30 years raised the ensemble to international prominence, leading the symphony in live radio broadcasts and releasing more than 100 commercial recordings. Abravanel is remembered for making classic recordings of the Berlioz Requiem, several orchestral works by Edgar Varèse, and Vaughan Williams. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Abravanel

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