Bloch and Bruch
Ernest Bloch’s music is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition and spirituality. Natalie Clein, in a sleeve note for her new recording of three of Bloch’s cello works, says that his output “was deeply affected by the early 20th-century yearning for a sense of identity” and expresses “a deep sense of longing and loneliness”.
Cellist Clein gives us a performance of Bloch’s “Schelomo” (1916) that is very sensitive and moving. The other composition on this CD is Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei (1881), in which the solo cello acts as a synagogue cantor to the orchestra’s chanted responses.
This is an amazing orchestral disc of music from the Jewish tradition of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Bruch’s Kol Nidrei is one of Bruch’s best loved works in the cello repertoire.
The cellist here is Natalie Clein, a celebrated figure in British musical life since winning BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1995.
Watch now as Natalie Clein plays an excerpt from J S Bach’s Cello Suite in G major BWV1007 and discusses Bach’s music:
And now I have for you Natalie Clein performing the Haydn Cello Concerto in C Major:
Tags: Natalie Clein, Ernest Bloch, Bruch, Shelomo, Kol Nidrei