SKU: CF.BF141

ISBN 9781491159989. UPC: 680160918584.

The three pieces From Jewish Life were composed by Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch in 1924, the same year he took U.S. citizenship. Though clearly inspired and influenced by Jewish experience, they are purely concert pieces, and do not provide any specific liturgical significance.

The first movement, Prayer, is a deeply heartfelt plea to the almighty. As Neil W Levin writes, The initial four-note motive in the minor mode, together with its elaboration in the ensuing phrases, sounds as if it might have served as the skeletal model for Max Janowski's (1912-1991) now well-known setting of the High Holyday prayer Avinu Malkenu. This prayer has special meaning in my own spiritual life, as I have been singing it since my childhood. Both Prayer and Janowski's Avinu Malkenu are cantorial in nature, to be sung with heartfelt pathos.

The second movement, Supplication (the act of begging humbly), has more angst, almost a sense of urgency as a result of the rhythmic motor in the piano. The third movement, Jewish Song, evokes a quintessentially Eastern-European melancholy. Its falling motives with bent intonation might represent the pain of the Jewish experience.

The works were dedicated to Dutch-American cellist Hans Kindler, a highly influential musician of his time, and founder of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. Mr. Kindler was the soloist for the world premiere of Bloch's most celebrated work, Schelomo in 1917.

Though the popularity of Bloch's oeuvre has been dominated by works of Jewish connection, we should not forget that Bloch had many other stylistic periods, including Franco-Belgian, modal, serial, and even American folk. In 1927, he was awarded Musical America's composition prize in a unanimous vote, despite being regarded as an outsider by American music writers at the time. His winning work America (1928) was performed by every major orchestra and conductor in the following seasons. May we be proud of his contributions to American music.
The three pieces From Jewish Life were composed by Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch in 1924, the same year he took U.S. citizenship. Though clearly inspired and influenced by Jewish experience, they are purely concert pieces, and do not provide any specific liturgical significance. The first movement, Prayer, is a deeply heartfelt plea to the almighty. As Neil W Levin writes, The initial four-note motive in the minor mode, together with its elaboration in the ensuing phrases, sounds as if it might have served as the skeletal model for Max Janowski's (1912-1991) now well-known setting of the High Holyday prayer Avinu Malkenu. This prayer has special meaning in my own spiritual life, as I have been singing it since my childhood. Both Prayer and Janowski's Avinu Malkenu are cantorial in nature, to be sung with heartfelt pathos. The second movement, Supplication (the act of begging humbly), has more angst, almost a sense of urgency as a result of the rhythmic motor in the piano. The third movement, Jewish Song, evokes a quintessentially Eastern-European melancholy. Its falling motives with bent intonation might represent the pain of the Jewish experience. The works were dedicated to Dutch-American cellist Hans Kindler, a highly influential musician of his time, and founder of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. Mr. Kindler was the soloist for the world premiere of Bloch's most celebrated work, Schelomo in 1917. Though the popularity of Bloch's oeuvre has been dominated by works of Jewish connection, we should not forget that Bloch had many other stylistic periods, including Franco-Belgian, modal, serial, and even American folk. In 1927, he was awarded Musical America's composition prize in a unanimous vote, despite being regarded as an outsider by American music writers at the time. His winning work America (1928) was performed by every major orchestra and conductor in the following seasons. May we be proud of his contributions to American music.
The three pieces From Jewish Life were composed by Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch in 1924, the same year he took U.S. citizenship. Though clearly inspired and influenced by Jewish experience, they are purely concert pieces, and do not provide any specific liturgical significance.The first movement, “Prayer”, is a deeply heartfelt plea to the almighty. As Neil W Levin writes, “The initial four-note motive in the minor mode, together with its elaboration in the ensuing phrases, sounds as if it might have served as the skeletal model for Max Janowski’s (1912–1991) now well-known setting of the High Holyday prayer Avinu Malkenu.” This prayer has special meaning in my own spiritual life, as I have been singing it since my childhood. Both “Prayer” and Janowski’s Avinu Malkenu are cantorial in nature, to be sung with heartfelt pathos.The second movement, “Supplication” (the act of begging humbly), has more angst, almost a sense of urgency as a result of the rhythmic motor in the piano. The third movement, “Jewish Song”, evokes a quintessentially Eastern-European melancholy. Its falling motives with bent intonation might represent the pain of the Jewish experience.The works were dedicated to Dutch-American cellist Hans Kindler, a highly influential musician of his time, and founder of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. Mr. Kindler was the soloist for the world premiere of Bloch’s most celebrated work, Schelomo in 1917.Though the popularity of Bloch’s oeuvre has been dominated by works of Jewish connection, we should not forget that Bloch had many other stylistic periods, including Franco-Belgian, modal, serial, and even American folk. In 1927, he was awarded Musical America’s composition prize in a unanimous vote, despite being regarded as an outsider by American music writers at the time. His winning work America (1928) was performed by every major orchestra and conductor in the following seasons. May we be proud of his contributions to American music.

SKU: HL.49047503

UPC: 842819119739.

SKU: HL.48186482

Reynaldo Hahn: Works for cello and piano [AL 30 749] For quite some time, posterity remembered Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947) for just a handful of songs and the operetta Ciboulette, overlooking the incredible diversity of a catalogue as eclectic as it is appealing. Yet his chamber music contains many little-known treasures: thus, cellist Steven Isserlis, in his preface, hastens to hail the first modern edition of these two scores, which he regularly plays in recital, so much does their beauty enchant the audience. Published in 1911, the Two Improvisations on Irish Airs for cello and piano turn out to be the transcription of his first and third Preludes for piano four hands (1894). These folk themes come from the collection Songs of Old Ireland, published 12 years earlier by Charles Villiers Stanford: gracefully and tenderly, The Little Red Lark unfurls a melancholic tune of which the regular foundation respects the breadth of phrase typical of folk songs; in The Willow-Tree, the lover begs his beloved in vain to take him in her arms one last time before he lies down, lifeless, in the shade of the tree. Beyond this sensitive exploration of the Irish soul, Hahn offers us a journey into the past: the Variations chantantes sur un air ancien develop a theme borrowed from Cavalli?s opera Xerse. In this aria (1660 version: Act IV, sc. 6), Ambassador Periarco dreams of moving away from court intrigues to be able to taste the pleasures ?to which the gods have destined him?. Reynaldo Hahn?s variations succeed in maintaining the sweet simplicity of this theme, as noble as it is refined. Let us wager that this publication will delight cellists and pianists alike: it contains some nuggets. Deux improvisations sur des airs irlandais (The Little Red Lark, The Willow-Tree) Variations chantantes sur un air ancien.

SKU: HL.48025366

UPC: 196288194279.

Hans Winterberg, born in Prague in 1901, lived through almost the entire period of the 20th century and was influenced as a composer by its most important artistic innovations. Already a brilliant pianist as an adolescent, he studied with Alois Hába and Alexander von Zemlinsky in Prague. Both his life and his music reflect the Austrian-Czech-Jewish cultural symbiosis; he saw himself as a bridge builder between Western and Eastern, i.e. Slavic, cultures. Owing to his Jewish ancestry, he was deported to the Terezin concentration camp after the annexation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. He was the only Jewish representative of the Czech musical avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s to survive the Shoah and, in 1947, followed his non-Jewish wife and their daughter to the FRG in the course of the expulsion of the German-speaking population from Czechoslovakia. Winterberg's fascinating oeuvre, which was kept under lock and key in a German music archive for years after his death, is now being made accessible in first editions due to a cooperation between the Exilarte Center for Banned Music at the University of Music in Vienna and Boosey & Hawkes. The first printed edition is Winterberg's Cello Sonata, composed in 1951, in which all the characteristics of his unmistakable personal style come to the fore: dance-like energy, polyrhythm, intimate yet unsentimental melos, subtle handling of folkloristic material, and an unerring sense of form and balance. This work is of medium technical and great interpretative difficulty.

SKU: HL.14030693

8.25x11.75x0.466 inches.

In the second half of his life, Moeran greatly extended his sensibilities and his musical palate to include more energetic and vigorous rhythms, harmonic colours and tonalities. In the Sonata for ViolonCello and Piano, the listener will find grandeur in the first movement and an intricate rondo in the finale. It is a piece by a composer who has taken an expansive step beyond his immediate surroundings and first influences.E J Moeran was a 20th century British composer of Anglo-Irish background who spent his early years in Norfolk and influences of folksong and programmatic elements can be easily heard in this composer's main body of work. Moeran tended toward thesmaller ensembles in his compositions, which gave an appropriate frame for his lyric gifts.

SKU: SU.94010750

Ekah is the Hebrew word for Lamentations, as in the book of Lamentations in the Bible. The literal translation of this word would be How or Ah! How. When the cellist, Inbal Segev asked me to write a new piece for cello and piano, and as a part of our discussion, I decided to compose a new piece that reflected on the immense challenges that the year 2020 has presented. The hows and lamentations in this piece might be: how can there still be so much hate in the world since we are all equal and created in the image of God? How can there be such police brutality in 2020? How and why is the whole world suffering with the Coronavirus (COVID-19)? How can our mental health, cities, and communities be so desolate? We can hope, pray, and do our responsible part to make our life on this planet meaningful during these challenging times of the year 2020. — James Lee III Violoncello & Piano Duration: 6' Composed: 2020 Published by: Subito Music Publishing.