Select a month

Back to The Archives

Schelomo Archive

DVORAK: Cello Concerto in b minor; BLOCH: Schelomo – Marc Coppey, cello/ Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/ Kirill Karabits – Audite

DVORAK: Cello Concerto in b minor; BLOCH: Schelomo – Marc Coppey, cello/ Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/ Kirill Karabits – Audite

by | Aug 17, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

DVORAK: Cello Concerto in b minor, Op. 104; Klid (Silent Woods), Op. 68, No. 5; BLOCH: Schelomo  – Marc Coppey, cello/ Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/ Kirill Karabits – Audite 97.734, 68:25 (6/30/17) [Distr. by Naxos] *****: Marc Coppey and Kirill Karabits collaborate in two epic cello scores with singular passion. Ernest Bloch, too often ‘constrained’ by the label ‘Jewish composer,” achieved a body work that well transcends any ethnic limit. His 1915-16 Hebraic Rhapsody, Schelomo, comes as an imaginative invention of his own in the same way Sibelius could be said to have created a ‘Finnish’ sound.  The keys to that ‘Jewish’ sound lie in the semitones and the interval of a fourth. At the time, in the first shadows of WW I, Bloch—living in Geneva—suffered financial straits, and he sought a conducting position which he failed to attain. His reading of the Book of Ecclesiastes seemed to correspond to his own plight, and he began sketching the rhapsody with a particular cellist, Alexander Barjansky, in mind. Given the attribution of the Biblical text to King Solomon, Bloch decided to name his work Schelomo. The piece, passionate and voluptuous, exhorts us in both intimacies and convulsive gestures. The influence of Richard […]

Tribute to Piatagorsky = BRAHMS: Double Concerto; SAINT-SAËNS: Cello Concerto; BLOCH: Schelomo – Gregor Piatagorsky (cello) / Nathan Milstein (vln.) – Praga Digitals

Tribute to Piatagorsky = BRAHMS: Double Concerto; SAINT-SAËNS: Cello Concerto; BLOCH: Schelomo – Gregor Piatagorsky (cello) / Nathan Milstein (vln.) – Praga Digitals

by | Jun 8, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Tribute to Piatagorsky = BRAHMS: Double Concerto in a minor, Op. 102; SAINT-SAËNS: Cello Concerto No. 1 in a minor, Op. 33; BLOCH: Schelomo – Rhapsody – Gregor Piatagorsky, cello/ Nathan Milstein, violin/ Robin Hood Dell Orchestra  of Philadelphia/ Fritz Reiner/ Boston Symphony Orchestra/ Charles Munch (Bloch) – Praga Digitals PRD 250 368, 70:56 (6/9/17) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: The Old-World cello virtuoso Piatagorsky plies his glamorous trade in three repertory staples. This assemblage of classic performances, 1950-1967, of famed Russian cellist Gregor Piatagorsky (1903-1976) easily demonstrates his glorious tone and consummate technique, which found natural expression in his chosen repertory. Certainly, prior to the appearance of Mstislav Rostropovich on the international concert stage, Piatagorsky dominated as the leading representative of his ‘school’ of musicianship. While the document of the Brahms Double Concerto from Philadelphia (29 June1951) – incorrectly attributed to NYC and the RCA studio orchestra – allows us to hear his work with compatriot Nathan Milstein (1904-1992), we unfortunately possess no recordings of the piano trio that included Vladimir Horowitz. Despite Milstein’s often-cited dislike of the music of Brahms, he distinguishes himself consistently in performance, his having agreed to set down the Double Concerto in tribute to […]