BLOCH Sacred Service. Schelomo. From Jewish Life (excerpts).

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

BLOCH Sacred Service. Schelomo. From Jewish Life (excerpts) · Ernest Bloch, cond; (pn);London Phil Ch and O; Marko Rothmuller (cantor);Zara Nelsova (vc) · PEARL GEM-0164, mono/analog (69:03) Like the recent Pearl release of Barber conducting Barber (Fanfare 25:5), this new issue offers the opportunity to hear a …

Picks of the Year: 1996

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

The Boulanger recording, originally released on LP in 1960, features five works of great beauty and depth of both spiritual and emotional content. Du Fond de 1’Abime, a setting of the Psalm 130, is a masterpiece and perhaps this tragically short-lived …

Picks of the Year: 1995

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

Each year at this time, as the compact disc continues to replace concert performance as the musical medium of consequence, it is mind-boggling to review the annual bounty of unknown treasures that have entered the discographic repertoire. Four of my five …

Picks of the Year: 1994

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

This year’s Want List offers a feast for those in search of accessible treasures of twentieth-century music. Two releases highlight the achievements of master composers in media for which they enjoyed a special affinity, while the other three bring to …

“THE ERNEST BLOCH COMPANION” By David Z. Kushner

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

 THE ERNEST BLOCH COMPANION. By David Z. Kushner. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. 198 pp. $79. Information generally available about Ernest Bloch and his music is so stale, third-hand, and pervaded by ideas that are either misconceived, trite, or both, that …

Picks of the Year: 1993

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

Walter Simmons: Want List 1993 This year’s selection of the five most exciting releases to come my way features an international assortment of twentieth-century treasures. I have colleague Jim North to thank for bringing to my attention the marvelous program …

Picks of the Year: 1992

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

If I could only pick one recording for the Want List, the Barber disc (reviewed in 15:6) would be it: great performances of two of Barber’s greatest works. I selected the Mercury reissue (reviewed in 15:2 because the Concerti Grossi are two …

AMERICAN WORKS FOR ORGAN AND ORCHESTRA. BARBER: Toccata Festiva. PISTON: Prelude and Allegro. SOWERBY: Concertpiece. COLGRASS: Snow Walker

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

AMERICAN WORKS FOR ORGAN AND ORCHESTRA · David Schrader (org); Carlos Kalmar, cond; Grant Park Orchestra · CEDILLE CDR-90000 063 (65:15) BARBER: Toccata Festiva. PISTON: Prelude and Allegro. SOWERBY: Concertpiece. COLGRASS: Snow Walker This new release is the first recording to feature the Casavant Frères organ built during the early 1990s …

Picks of the Year: 1991

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

I was absolutely captivated by Dawn Upshaw’s recital of 20th-century vocal music reviewed in 14:4, p. 445), and I can’t imagine anyone reacting otherwise. Ernest Bloch’s two piano quintets are among his masterpieces, but have never been paired on recording …