{"id":661,"date":"2008-08-18T22:46:08","date_gmt":"2008-08-18T22:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2008\/08\/18\/back-in-bloch\/"},"modified":"2008-08-18T22:46:08","modified_gmt":"2008-08-18T22:46:08","slug":"back-in-bloch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2008\/08\/18\/back-in-bloch\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in Bloch"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was so glad to discover this post on Ernest Bloch today at On An Overgrown Path<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although, especially with the Schubert C Major Quintet (right up there with the Matthew Passion of Bach for greatest achievement of any kind\u00a0 by any human being in history in my book), I have to express moderate scepticism for Colin Hampton\u2019s comment that \u201cI would put Bloch in front of Schubert and Brahms anytime,\u201d I doubt you\u2019ll find a more pro-Bloch blog than Vftp.<\/p>\n

Sadly because his music tends to be little known and less understood, my opportunities to perform his music have been scattered over the years. Most recently, I conducted Schelomo in Glasgow with the fine young cellist Barbara Misciewicz<\/a>, a piece I first played with orchestra during my studies at the University of Wisconsin. To return after many years to a piece that meant so much to me musically and personally and to take a gifted young soloist through it for the first time seemed to mark a closing of one cycle and the beginning of another. You can read some of my thoughts about the piece and the Glasgow project here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

After learning and performing it several times as a cellist, I was so enthralled and inspired by Schelomo, and so excited to have studied it with Parry Karp, whose knowledge of Bloch\u2019s music is unparalleled, that the next year, I begged my colleagues in the Strelow Quartet to make his epic String Quartet No 1 our first project (programmed alongside Mozart\u2019s final quartet in F major). Bloch\u2019s 1st<\/sup> \u00a0is a huge piece, over 40 minutes long, making it one of the major statements in the entire quartet literature, and, having spent so many hours living with it, I can\u2019t help but passionately second the Colin Hampton quote in Pliable\u2019s post today \u201cBloch’s) string quartet No 1 is to me one of the great works in this world.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> To me, it is one of the most powerful documents of its time, full of rage, despair and hope. Our guide through the piece again was Parry, cellist of the Pro Arte Quartet, whose performances and recordings of the Bloch quartets<\/a> did more to raise awareness of his chamber music than any group since the Grillers. The piece is a voyage through life and the world- a summing up of everything the young Bloch seemed to understand and believe, full of truths both painful and consoling.<\/p>\n

Another Bloch work I travelled many miles with was the Three Nocturnes for Piano Trio. What is it about composers and Nocturnes in groups of 3?(I’m conducting the Debussy Nocturnes next week). \u00a0I don\u2019t know if Debussy\u2019s set of orchestral nocturnes was an influence or not, but I find it unlikely. Where Schelomo and the First Quartet are huge, epic pieces (I harbour a secret plan to orchestrate the Quartet one day), the Nocturnes are terse and compact. Wonderful examples of the art of the miniature, which always dazzled our audiences. I’m hoping we can get the\u00a0Nocturnes on the schedule in Ischia next summer.<\/p>\n

Next month, I turn to Bloch again- this time to another work in the epic vein, his Suite for Viola (or cello) and Orchestra. By the time we finish the concert, I will have said \u201cno, not Suite Hebraique, but the long one that nobody plays\u201d at least 500 times. Although written for viola, Bloch\u2019s friend Gabor Rejto arranged it for cello and orchestra (or piano), presumably with Bloch\u2019s blessing. In addition to offering a wonderful new piece for cellists, the Rejto arrangement also makes life a little easier for the orchestra and conductor because the cello is a bit more able to project than the viola (the Bartok Viola Concerto also works more easily with cello and orchestra, but we try not to rub these things in. If more violists knew and played the Suite, maybe we\u2019d stay clear of that one for them).<\/p>\n

The soloist for the Suite will be none other than Parry Karp- how fun for me that having just completed one Bloch project with a young cellist discovering his music for the first time, I now turn to a collaboration with the musician who took me into Bloch\u2019s world for the first time so many years ago.<\/p>\n

Now, hear check out a sample<\/a> from Parry\u2019s CD of Bloch\u2019s works for cello and piano, reviewed here<\/a> and available here<\/a>. The pianist is Francis Karp. Buy the disc! This is the Meditation\u00a0Hebraique, written for Casals, who, as Pliable\u00a0pointed out, once\u00a0said\u00a0“The best composer of our times is Ernest Bloch.” The\u00a0OES and Parry\u00a0Karp perform the\u00a0Suite for Cello and Orchestra on Saturday,\u00a0October 4th. \u00a0Come to our concert.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n