Ernest Bloch often turned to the cello to express his deepest feelings, especially in music that pays homage to Jewish themes and sensibilities, as in Schelomo and Voice in the Wilderness. It also was the instrument that served as a vehicle to join his modernist sympathies to his love for Bach’s music. These life-long stylistic tendencies are amply displayed on this admirable disc. The “Jewish” Bloch is heard in Baal Shem (originally written for violin and piano), Méditation hébraïque, and the emotionally direct pieces comprising From Jewish Life, music full of cantorial inflections and plaintive, soulful medlodies. But all is not mournful: in Simchas Torah, the third piece of Baal Shem, the performers become a mini-klezmer band that will set your feet tapping with joy. I have no idea whether Bruns is Jewish, nor does it matter, but his playing here sounds as if he was wearing a yarmulke during the recording sessions; it’s that idiomatic.
For many listeners Bloch’s later, more complex Suites for solo cello, written in 1956 and 1957, will be the main attraction of this disc. They’re too rarely heard, even more so in such accomplished performances. As Bruns says in a brief booklet note, “chromaticism is taken to its limits” and the performer is required to display “an infallible sense of form and rubato.” That’s exactly what Bruns does, clarifying the often cloudy structures and making these difficult works accessible. He’s equal to their great technical demands and his love for the music shines through. The whiplash Allegro of Suite No. 1 scintillates. His tonal variety and plastic rhythms bring the Suite No. 2 alive and make the Third Suite’s internal logic crystal clear. Throughout, his big tone sings with conviction. His excellent keyboard partner in the shorter accompanied works is Roglit Ishay. Important music. Excellent performances. Realistic sound. A winner.
