BLOCH
The Chamber Music with Viola
Suite Hebraique
Concertino for flute, viola and piano
Suite for viola
Suite for viola and piano
Paul Cortese (viola) Michel
Wagemans (piano) Maarika Jarvi (flute)
ASV CDDCA 1094
[70.28
]
Crotchet
Bloch is one of those composers one only encounters occasionally, but each
time the effect is the same: he ought to be better known. This ASV recording
of chamber music for Bloch's preferred solo instrument, the viola, is therefore
an important contribution to the cause. And since both the performances and
the recordings are first class, it is a most worthwhile addition to the
catalogue.
There are two really major works and others of less substance but still of
interest. The biggest piece, and one of Bloch's finest achievements, is the
Suite for Viola and Piano, which dates from 1918-19. As Duncan Reid perceptively
remarks in his accompanying essay, although this work pre-dates all the others
on the disc by more than thirty years, 'it still sounds more modern than
anything bar the late, unfinished solo piece'. There are four movements to
the duo Suite, and the whole is some thirty minutes in duration. It is a
tribute to the concentration of Cortese's playing, and to his partnership
with Wagemans, that the work sounds so eloquent and strong, big in ideas
and in concept. If the title -Suite - encourages the expectation that this
will be a slight collection of short movements, nothing could be further
from the truth.
Here and elsewhere, the ASV recording is exemplary, offering a generously
warm acoustic and a detailed perspective which is just right for chamber
music. Therefore Cortese's full, rounded tone is heard to advantage, and
the balance he achieves with his accompanist contributes much to the overall
effectiveness of the performances.
Of the other items collected here, the Suite Hebraique of 1951 is particularly
fine, both as music and as performance. In many ways this piece makes an
ideal introduction to this under-rated composer. It is direct, eloquent and
strong, with a fund of invention which marks this music, and therefore this
disc too, as particularly compelling.
Terry Barfoot
