Of almost any of the works of Bloch's maturity, the Sinfonia Breve has the least amount of Jewish flavor. In 1952, when this piece was written, Bloch was exploring some other vocabularies rather than the one that is most often identified with him. His flirtation with twelve tone techniques still sounds like Bloch.

What emerges from these investigations is an energetic work for large orchestra which comes close as Bloch ever got to sounding like William Walton.

The title of the work indicates a more formal structure than many of his more poetic creations. It does follow the classical four movement pattern for the symphony. Bloch links them by utilizing recurring thematic material that is appropriately transformed. If one considers his early Symphony in C sharp minor, this is a short work, but in reality its 20-plus minute length was not uncommon for symphonies written in America in this period.

The first movement Moderato commences with an important thrusting theme. This portion is much more than just an introduction to the centrally placed Allegro.

The second movement is meditative and quite beautiful. The string section dominates and Bloch exhibits the same mastery of counterpoint that one finds in his string quartets. The Scherzo begins with an on the beat, off the beat, major seventh figure. The first trio is a slower, lyrical contrast. The second trio has the most exotically colored writing of the whole Sinfonia. The finale recalls much of the important material from the previous movements. This grand summation ends calmly.

The Sinfonia Breve was introduced by Sir Malcolm Sargent in 1953. Performances by George Szell in Cleveland and Antal Dorati in Minneapolis followed quickly. But even being presented by such prestigious maestri, it has not become an established work in the repertoire.

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