Search - Bloch, Still, Sedares :: Trois Poemes Juifs / Evocations

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959), born in Switzerland, wrote a kind of modern romanticism that reflected his Jewish folk-tune ancestry. It has as its base a kind of trenchant longing, a wistful aimlessness that gives the music a breezy quality. Bloch's true strength lies in his writing for the violin; nearly all his melodies are grounded in the strings--as in Three Jewish Poems (of 1913). And Bloch's music has always been deeply personal--more so than any other composer of his era (except perhaps the music of Frederic Delius who beats everybody hands-down in deeply personal music). This is very lovely music. --Paul Cook