Ernest Bloch; Max Bruch - Works for Cello & Orchestra (Natalie Clein)

Information

Composer: Ernest Bloch; Max Bruch

• Bloch - "Schelomo", Rhapsodie Hébraïque
• Bloch - From Jewish Life (arr. C. Palmer)
• Bloch - Voice in the Wilderness
• Bruch - Kol Nidrei, Op. 47

Natalie Clein, cello

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Ian Volkov, conductor

Date: 2011

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Schelomo (‘Solomon’) grew from a project to set verses from the book of Ecclesiastes but Bloch later opted for a purely instrumental realisation. The cello takes on the king’s personality, meditating that ‘All is vanity’, the orchestra sometimes appearing to reflect these melancholy thoughts, at others portraying the barbaric splendour of Solomon’s court. Natalie Clein’s performance concentrates, most affectingly, on the atmosphere of deep introspection. Other cellists, Piatigorsky, for instance, have projected a more painful intensity but Clein’s is thoughtful, subtle and satisfying, well supported by the passionate and spirited BBC Scottish SO.

Clein is highly sensitive to the emotional import of Bloch’s modal inflections; this enables her to find exactly the right character for each of the scenes From Jewish Life. Christopher Palmer’s arrangement for strings and harp of the original piano part is expertly done, although one misses the contrast of tone colour at the points where the piano takes over the melody. Voice in the Wilderness has a most original form. Each of its six sections is introduced by the orchestra, after which the cello enters to meditate on the ideas we’ve just heard. Natalie Clein encompasses all the work’s varied character and demands while retaining an air of polish in her playing. Her chords in the vigorous, energetic third section, for example, remain full and rounded, without appearing over-careful. 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.

— Duncan Druce

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Ernest Bloch (July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer known for blending post-Romantic and neoclassical styles with Jewish musical themes. He studied in Switzerland and Belgium, taught at the Geneva Conservatory, and moved to the U.S. in 1916. Bloch became the first director of the Cleveland Institute of Music and later led the San Francisco Conservatory. He taught at UC Berkeley until retiring in 1952. Bloch's compositions, influenced by Debussy, Mahler, and Ravel, include Schelomo, Baal Shem, Avodath Hakodesh, Concerto Grosso No. 1, and Israel Symphony, among others.

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Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic composer known for his melodic and expressive works. He held conducting positions at Koblenz (1865), Sondershausen (1867), Berlin (1878), Liverpool (1880–83), and Breslau (1883–90), then taught at the Berlin Academy of Arts from 1890 to 1911. Bruch gained fame in his lifetime for large choral-orchestral works like Schön Ellen and Odysseus, though these fell out of favour over time. Today, he is best remembered for his Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, the Scottish Fantasy, and Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra, all of which remain concert favorites.

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British cellist Natalie Clein studied with Anna Shuttleworth and Alexander Baillie at the Royal College of Music, then studied with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. She came to prominence after winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 1994 and was the first British winner of the Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians. Since then she has been regularly invited to work with major orchestras, conductors and musicians worldwide. Clein records regularly for Hyperion and has received a Diapason d’Or, Gramophone Disc of the Month and a Brit Award. She plays on the "Simpson" Guadagnini cello (1777).

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