Bloch, E: Schelomo

“this profoundly engaging reading [of the Bridge] sets a new standard. [in Schelomo] nothing is forced or overdone, no rhetoric or posturing gets in the way of the work's own soulful expression...What he has achieved in this beautifully balanced recording with Hugh Wolff is a breathtaking new fluency and freedom.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 *****

“Isserlis's spellbinding advocacy of Bridge's raptly compassionate masterpiece in particular has acquired an extra richness of experience and plangent intensity...both performances [the Hough and the Bloch] really are tremendously compelling in their articulate composure, nourishing intelligence and clear-sighted purpose.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2013

“A mood of poignant intensity characterises the three works here, played by Steven Isserlis with two different orchestras...Some ridiculed [Schelomo] as suitable only for a Hollywood epic but Isserlis conveys its simple, urgent message.” The Observer, 7th April 2013

“[Clein's] impassioned, sensitive playing finds willing collaborators in the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and their former principal conductor.” Sunday Times, 15th July 2012

“Clein is the cello protagonist in all four works, her range of tonal colour, her animation and her discreet soulfulness proving to be ideal qualities...Kol Nidrei is one of the most beautiful works in the entire cello canon, a factor that this performance conveys in a blend of tranquillity and heartfelt ardour.” The Telegraph, 27th July 2012 *****

“Clein's performance [of Schelomo] concentrates, most affectingly, on the atmosphere of deep introspection...thoughtful, subtle and satisfying, well supported by the passionate and spirited BBC Scottish SO...The Bruch, too, receives a lovely performance, with Clein bringing out the different colour of each of the cello's strings and the orchestra effecting most beautifully the transition from sombre to heavenly.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2012

“She and Volkov give a performance of Schelomo (1916) that is very moving, both in its profound sensuality and in the pervasive sense of transience that gnaws at its vision of worldly glory...Beautifully done, [Kol Nidrei] brings the disc to a reflective close. Highly recommended.” The Guardian, 9th August 2012 *****

“As one might expect, Clein delivers a powerfully committed performance, but also manages to avoid over-indulgence, negotiating the peaks and troughs of the music's volatile emotional language with a clear sense of direction...Volkov brings a welcome transparency to Bloch's languorous instrumentation in the reflective sections.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ****

“one of the pleasures of the recital is the meeting of minds between orchestra and soloist, each perfectly partnering the other...It's a lovely piece of programming, tenderly performed.” bbc.co.uk, 22nd August 2012

“...as fine a version as we now have [of the Sacred Service], beautifully recorded. Rostropovich and Bernstein are highly flammable in Schelomo...The Academy of St Martin in the Fields playing the joyous First Concerto Grosso is an added bonus” Gramophone Magazine, June 2010

“Bloch suggested the cello in Schelomo could represent the voice of Solomon. Ma invests the solo part with regal and sagacious qualities, but shot through with frailty. Khongorzul Ganbaatar contributes a nape-prickling vocal to Sharav's Legend of Herlen. Harrison's Pipa Concerto is predominantly bright in texture and lively in demeanour. Prokofiev's suite is very exciting and allows the Chicago SO to show off its power.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 ****

“Cellists are apt to 'come of age' in recordings of the Elgar. Isserlis was no exception. This is a wonderful account of the Concerto – brave, imaginative, individual – indeed, quite the most personal in its perception of the piece since the treasurable du Pré on EMI. And that, you'll appreciate, is saying something though not, we hasten to add, that the two readings are in any outward sense similar. Far from it. With Isserlis, the emotional tug is considerably less overt, the emphasis more on shadow and subtext than open heartache. Yet the inner light is no less intense, the phrasing no less rhapsodic in manner than du Pré. On the contrary. This is freerange Elgar all right, and like du Pré it comes totally without affectation. Both Isserlis and du Pré take an appropriately generous line on the first movement's sorrowful song, with Isserlis the more reposeful, the more inclined to open out and savour key cadences. The Scherzo itself is quite simply better played than on any previous recording; the articulation and definition of the semiquaver 'fours' would, we're sure, have astonished even the composer himself. From a technical point of view Isserlis is easily the equal, and more, of any player currently before us. And if you still feel that du Pré really did have the last word where the epilogue is concerned, then listen to Isserlis sinking with heavy heart into those pages preceding the return of the opening declamation.
He achieves a mesmerising fragility in the bars marked lento – one last backward glance, as it were – and the inwardness of the final diminuendo is something to be heard and remembered. Hickox and the LSO prove model collaborators. Don't on any account miss these performances.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“exactly the right balance of virtuosity and taste... smouldering intensity, darkly brooding and intense... quite possibly the best performance available [of Schelomo]” Classics Today

“[Steckel] shows his mettle and musicianship very impressively in three contrasted Jewish concertante works, creating a firm, warmly full-bodied tone and easy virtuosity. He is absolutely at home in Bloch's richly lyrical and hauntingly langorous Schelomo...and here Daniel Raskin brings out the detail of the colourful accompaniment very tellingly...But it is in the Goldschmidt Concerto that Steckel has the opportunity to deliver real virtuosity” Gramophone Magazine, October 2011

“Intelligently programmed, very well engineered and stunningly played by both the orchestra and all importantly the soloist… What impresses and indeed thrills me about Steckel’s playing is the range of colour and emotion he finds in this trio of rather wonderful score” MusicWeb International, July 2011