Although Ernest Bloch had a rather large compositional output, he is today remembered primarily for his handful of works inspired by his own Jewish heritage. The most elaborate of these pieces is Schelomo, the Hebraic rhapsody for solo and cello and orchestra. Programmatically, the piece is supposed to chronicle Solomon's wanderings in the desert -- a time filled with much tribulation and prayer. Cellist Ofra Harnoy's playing of this powerful work may be too superficial for some listeners. This arises not so much from ...
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Although Ernest Bloch had a rather large compositional output, he is today remembered primarily for his handful of works inspired by his own Jewish heritage. The most elaborate of these pieces is Schelomo, the Hebraic rhapsody for solo and cello and orchestra. Programmatically, the piece is supposed to chronicle Solomon's wanderings in the desert -- a time filled with much tribulation and prayer. Cellist Ofra Harnoy's playing of this powerful work may be too superficial for some listeners. This arises not so much from musical reasons but because of her somewhat thin, forced sound that does not offer an adequate sense of depth and profundity. Some of Harnoy's tempo choices are often questionable. Schelomo is not a virtuoso piece intended to show off the abilities of the performer, yet Harnoy races ahead at times and does not allow her listeners to enjoy the complex rhythmic interplay in the orchestra because the rhythms become simply too fast to be clearly executed. In Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei, a work to...
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