Bloch, E: Nigun (Baal Shem No. 2)

Tasmin Little’s formidable technical ability and gift for interpretation are unmistakable in this collection of showpieces. Displaying her brilliant virtuosity and captivating lyricism, and including her own witty Tchaikovskiana, written in collaboration with John Lenehan, these works highlight Little’s breathtaking skill as a performer.

Shostakovich’s sonata is the final work of a mortally ill composer, full of enigmatic hints, echoes and reminiscences. In contrast, Bloch’s compositions are examples of self-confident national art with a predilection for a meditative underlying mood.

From Newton Classics comes an innovative new compilation: fourteen ‘songs’, all transcribed for double bass, hailing from countries all over the world.

Compiled by the performer Sciascia, the release effectively sweeps across mainland Asia detailing works taken from the Far East, Europe and the Middle East. From Max Bruch’s highly sentimental Kol Nidrei, originally written for cello and orchestra and based on two Jewish themes, to Spain’s intoxicating Cancion de Amor, the CD documents a wealth of traditional melodies. Also featured are more recent contributions – such as the Japanese Aijyou (meaning ‘friendship’), which Yoshihiro Utsumi wrote especially for the bassist.

Providing a fascinating insight into the variety of culture found across the globe, Sciascia blends the familiar with the lesser known to present a compilation that brims with colour.

The talented bassist’s choice of cantabile repertoire reflects his long-standing wish to play the double bass as if it were a human voice, and he has achieved just that: this is an admirable follow-up to Sciascia’s last Bottesini recording for Newton, revealing once again how an instrument not generally associated with solo repertoire is capable of holding its own – and to great effect.

Stefano Sciascia was born in 1960 and took up the bass at the age of sixteen. He is now a busy and much-recorded bass soloist, who has formed numerous ensembles and published many collections of arrangements and original works.

The emblematic recording devoted to ‘Jewish Songs’, which has been so important in the career of the distinguished cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton, is now available once more, with new texts written by the artist herself in a beautifully produced 72-page four-colour booklet. In addition to the original recording, this reissue includes Ravel’s Chanson hébraïque, for which Sonia Wieder-Atherton is joined by Sinfonia Varsovia under Jànos Fürst.

Despite its success in France some years ago on another label, this recording has never been released in several countries. Its reissue in an enhanced form (there’s also an extra traditional Jewish song on track 3) comes as part of Wieder-Atherton’s exclusive Naïve contract. The project is very much the cellist’s: she researched the sources that gave birth to these prayers and chants. She and pianist Daria Horova transcribed, harmonized and often reconstructed these melodies – but in a way that respected the original. Then she turned to composer Jean-François Zygel, asking that he imprint his own vision of certain of these sources and that he draw inspiration from them in composing three more pieces.

Years later, they decided to add to the cycle Bloch’s magnificent compositions inspired, as was a great part of his work, by ancient Hebraic music: The Nigun (improvisation) written in 1923, a transcription of one of his works for violin and piano taken from the Baal Shem cycle; the three-part Jewish Life; and Meditation Hébraïque, both written in 1924. The latest addition is Maurice Ravel’s Hebraic song, warmly accompanied by Sinfonia Varsovia directed by János Fürst, the charismatic conductor who died in 2007. The Hebraic song is the last of a cycle of seven popular songs dating from 1910.

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) was a Swiss composer who did more to establish Jewish themes and musical idiom in to music than any other composer who could claim Jewish roots was. Whereas many ‘Jewish’ composers composed in idioms that were European, and only occasionally used Klezma or gypsy themes and sounds (Mahler for example), Bloch considered it his mission to position the musical heritage of his people in the fore front of Western classical music as Bartok and Kodaly had done in Hungary, Vaughan Williams in the British Isles, Sibelius and Grieg in Scandinavia, Enescu in Rumania and Copland in America.

Nationalism in music is fine if you have a nation. What if you are Jewish, and are part of the musical culture of so many nations – often scared to declare your parentage and origins in case you were persecuted or killed? The place-less person, or ‘Wondering Jew’ gave Bloch the inspiration to compose what he termed ‘most unmistakably racial music’. The best known work on this CD is the striking cello concerto ‘Schelomo’, or Solomon. It is a powerful work, and has vividly colourful orchestration giving it the feeling of a Hollywood Biblical epic soundtrack. The three works here, taken together, represent the ‘Jewish Cycle’ Bloch started in 1912. These are highly emotional works expertly scored, and they leave a powerful impression on the listener.