Album

A wonderfully cohesive program brilliantly executed, this disc by violinist Zina Schiff with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under José Serebrier is a superb single-disc collection of Ernest Bloch's major works for violin and orchestra. Each piece is based on Jewish themes, explicitly in Baal Shem (Three Pictures of Chassdic Life) and Suite Hébraïque, and implicitly in the Violin Concerto. But, as Bloch wrote, he strove in all three works to embody "the complex, glowing, agitated soul that I feel vibrating through the Bible." Regardless of inspiration, all three works are colorful, rhapsodic, and flamboyantly virtuosic. Zina Schiff is a first-rate violinist fully up to the music's tremendous technical challenges, and a first-rate musician who can get inside the soul of Bloch's extravagantly expressive music. Serebrier is an able conductor who favors bright colors and propulsive tempos and the Royal Scottish is, as always, a reliable orchestra. Recorded at Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow in 2006, Naxos' digital sound is perhaps a little too forward, but nevertheless very alluring.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide

CD 1
Ernest Bloch Composer Violin Concerto Work 38:20 José Serebrier Conductor, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Orchestra, Zina Schiff Violin
1	1.Allegro deciso	20:09			$3.49
2	2.Andante	6:11			$0.99
3	3.Deciso	12:00			$1.99
Ernest Bloch Composer Baal Shem: 3 Pictures of Hassidic life, for violin and piano Work 14:35 José Serebrier Conductor, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Orchestra, Zina Schiff Violin
4	1.Vidui (Contrition)	3:15			$0.99
5	2.Nigun (Improvisation)	6:27			$0.99
6	3.Simchas Torah (Rejoicing)	4:53			$0.99
Ernest Bloch Composer Suite hébraïque, for viola and orchestra Work 13:06 José Serebrier Conductor, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Orchestra, Zina Schiff Violin
7	1.Rhapsody: Andante moderato	6:40			$0.99
8	2.Processional: Andante con moto	2:30			$0.99
9	3.Affirmation: Maestoso	3:56			$0.99