Bloch Party

The shadow of WW1 hangs over much of the music on this disk of the chamber music of Ernest Bloch, the Swiss born Jewish composer who spent his latter years in the US. The performers here are the violinist Hagai Shaham and pianist Arnon Erez. The works are Violin Sonatas Nos 1 and 2, Melodie, Nuit Exotique and Abodah, all written in the 1920s when Bloch was located in various parts of the US. The first sonata is the most extreme work, jagged and frantic, written closest to the end of WW1. As a reaction against that the second sonata is more mystical and melodic with a mix of Jewish themes and themes from Christian Gregorian chant. The later named works are soulful, more melodic pieces again with a sense of the Jewish tradition to them. Without labouring the point of Jewishness, the Israeli performers do share an obvious affinity with this material. The general feeling of the disk is quite austere and bears obvious scars of the 20th century, even if Bloch escaped many of the immediate traumas of the time.