These aren't new recordings. They were made back in 1990 though
I'm not sure if all were released at the time. The first Cello
Suite certainly was, on LR-848-CD though it's long since been
deleted.
What can't be denied
is the effectiveness of the playing. Whether tackling the solo
suites or joining with Frances Karp, Parry Karp proves a laudable
guide to the repertoire. Some of the smaller pieces can be difficult
to convey without exaggeration but both Karps prove more than
capable of keeping within stylistic boundaries whilst also managing
to project the spirit of the music with flair and feeling.
Meditation Hébraïque
was written in 1924 for Casals, a musician whose own spirit
moves powerfully through the music. His espousal of the Bach
cello suites was a strong incentive to Bloch to write his own.
The Meditation takes the cello eventfully low in its
register to the kind of guttural eloquence of which Casals was
himself a master. It's tailor made for the Catalan both emotively
and tonally. It's also a piece powerfully responsive to the
human voice and to humanity in its widest sense.
The three pieces
From Jewish Life are well conveyed as well. One can imagine
magnificent cantors such as a David Roitman or a Mordecai Hershman
intoning the first, the Prayer. The intense rabbinic
expression is sustained to the end and the little melismas attest
to the humanly vocalised heart of the writing. Of course this
is a much arranged piece but it still works best in its starkest
and best imagined form for cello and piano. Supplication
is keen edged, replete with quarter tones. And the Jewish
Dance is a study in a kind of interior dialogue that grows
in declamatory power towards a truly passionate outburst - all
very well judged and graded in this performance. The rather
dry acoustic oddly adds to the sense of immediacy even if it's
not always entirely flattering to Parry Karp's tone.
The three Suites
are important additions to the twentieth century solo cello
repertoire. The first two were inspired by the Canadian cellist
Zara Nelsova who was once upon a time known in her pre-War days
in the Canadian Trio as 'Nelson'. I'm not aware that any performance
by her has survived. The First is comprehensively well characterised,
from the dancery of the Prelude to the austere lyricism of the
Canzona. The allegro finale is an ebullient riposte to earlier
reflection and a fitting summation to a concisely turbulent
work. The second Suite is again cast in four movements. The
opening is a slow meditation and the Allegro that follows is
a gutty and brooding movement with attaca defiance and
tenacious writing generally. The slow movement is long but never
seems dangerously so. And the finale is restless but
increasingly confident.
The third Suite is the only one cast in five
movements. The greater length however doesn't encourage any
diffusion of focus. The central allegro is as confident as in
the earlier suites. In the Andante Bloch touches the most sombre
of feelings - death was not far away for him - but his finale,
a dynamic Allegro giocoso, is triumphant and hopeful.
Excellent performances
are enhanced by the booklet documentation. The result is an
important document for Bloch adherents.
Jonathan Woolf
see also Review
by Rob Barnett
Parry Karp (cello)
