Bloch: Violin Sonatas Nos.1 & 2, Baal Shem, Suite No. 1 For Solo Violin – Spectrum Concerts Berlin

The full range of Ernest Bloch’s music for violin and piano can be heard on this album, which journeys from his fiery early works to one of his last compositions. Both violin sonatas explore personal themes. The First, in its barbarism, alludes to the First World War, while the Second, subtitled Poème mystique, was inspired by a dream and is suffused with lyrical episodes from Gregorian chant. The melancholy and ecstasy evoked in Baal Shem derive from Hebrew music, including pre-existing synagogal melodies. The economy of the neo-Baroque Suite No. 1 for Solo Violin reveals a more reserved but no less inventive side of Bloch’s violin writing.