Paul Ben-Haim; Ernest Bloch; Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Cello Concertos (Raphael Wallfisch)

Information

Composer: Paul Ben-Haim; Ernest Bloch; Erich Wolfgang Korngold

• Ben-Haim - Cello Concerto
• Bloch - Symphony for Cello & Orchestra
• Korngold - Cello Concerto in C major, Op. 37
• Korngold - Tanzlied des Pierrot (from the opera 'Die tote Stadt')
• Bloch - Vidui (1st movement of the Baal Shem-Suite)
• Bloch - Nigun (2nd movement of the Baal Shem-Suite)

Raphael Wallfisch, cello

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Łukasz Borowicz, conductor

Date: 2020

Label: CPO

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Review

The subtitle of this excellent disc of cello concertos by exiled Jewish composers, ‘Voices in the Wilderness’ (almost the title of another cello concertante work by Bloch), is curious. Exiles from Nazi Germany, their eventual homes (Israel and the USA) were hardly wildernesses, especially for Ben-Haim, born Paul Frankenburger in Munich, who settled in Palestine – surely the ideal relocation, at least spiritually? For sure, Korngold hankered to return to the Vienna of his youth, but California was hardly a desert.

If you don’t know Ben-Haim’s music, the Cello Concerto (1962) is an ideal place to start. A compact, three-movement work, it combines a Levantine atmosphere (especially in the cello-writing, eloquently rendered by Wallfisch) with mid-European technique. Stravinsky is there, too, right from the outset, but Ben-Haim’s skill in synthesising these disparate elements – including two Judaeo-Spanish love songs – is brilliant. So too is Bloch’s Symphony (1954, the third of his four), originally written for trombone but assigned to the cello as an alternative at publication. I prefer the trombone original but Wallfisch’s performance makes a very fine case for his instrument.

Bloch’s is less overt a display piece than Korngold’s Concerto, composed originally not just for the film Deception in 1946 but as part of the plot. Wallfisch definitely has its measure and his account is as compelling as any recent one. Julian Steckel’s was well received in these pages, as was Zuill Bailey (ASV, reissued by Alto). A key aspect of all these performances, aside from the passion of Wallfisch’s advocacy, is the contribution of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, on splendid form (as ever). The three encores are nicely done, too, but why did they omit the ‘Simchas Torah’ finale of Bloch’s Baal Shem? It runs under five minutes and there was bags of room.

— Guy Rickards

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Paul Ben-Haim (5 July 1897 – 14 January 1984) was an Israeli composer. Born in Munich, he studied under Friedrich Klose and worked as an assistant conductor to Bruno Walter and Hans Knappertsbusch before becoming conductor in Augsburg. After emigrating to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1933, he settled in Tel Aviv and adopted a Hebraized name. Ben-Haim became a key figure in Israeli music, blending late Romantic style with Middle Eastern elements to create a distinct Jewish national sound. He composed widely across genres and taught many notable students, influencing generations of Israeli musicians.

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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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Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born composer and child prodigy, hailed as a genius in early 20th-century classical music. He gained early fame for his operas, particularly Die tote Stadt (1920), before fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria in the 1930s. In Hollywood, Korngold became a pioneer of film music, composing lush, romantic scores for films like The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which won him an Academy Award. He wrote scores for 16 Hollywood films in all, and is considered one of the founders of film music, along with Max Steiner and Alfred Newman.

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Raphael Wallfisch (born 1953 in London) is an English cellist whose career took off after winning the Gaspar Cassadó Competition at age 24. He has performed with major orchestras worldwide and worked with leading conductors, building a vast discography with labels like Chandos, CPO and Naxos. Known for championing British and lesser-known repertoire, he has premiered works by many contemporary composers. Wallfisch is also a respected educator, serving as Professor at the Royal College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire, and frequently sits on international competition juries. He plays a 1733 Montagnana cello.

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