Bloch: Israel Symphony

 

How unexpected to hear an early 20th-Century symphony open with comfort and optimism. Perhaps it is the moniker of Israel attached to the title, which in 2026 immediately following Israeli prime minister elections, and currently a charged subject, that made me expect something quite different. How refreshing to hear music avoiding politics altogether.

So yes, Swiss composer Ernest Bloch's Israel Symphony opens almost cinematically. Certainly the comfort and optimism I mentioned at the top become powerful. This first movement is simply a short prelude to a much longer work, thus I hear this opening more as a foretaste for the final movement, rather than any structured significance in its own right.

The second movement contains the action of the symphony. A musical struggle, yes, but nothing oppressive. Again, I think the cinematic musical language is too approachable for anything too dour or menacing. Instead, we are treated to a series of episodes, some militaristic, others monumental, and still more which is sweet and touching. Bloch never lets my attention wander at any moment, and for a 14-minute movement, that is saying a whole lot.

The positivity of the first movement returns in a longer form for the third movement, one with obvious religious fervor. The addition of five solo vocalists only adds to the charm of the movement, surprisingly sung in English. Unfortunately, the Eastern-European soloists don't quite have the flavor of the English language down, and I think the Hebrew would be more authentic to the music. Still, this is a only a small element for eagle-eared listeners, which is otherwise a splendid conclusion to a spectacular symphony.

I have just come off Bloch's earlier Symphony in C-sharp minor, and found it to be a work of great color and vividness, where I was taken along with its music for its entire runtime. Color me impressed that I am equally along for the ride in his Israel Symphony. Truthfully, I didn't hear any Jewish musical attributes until the third movement, and even then, I think it is integrated tastefully, if not subtly. That makes two early Bloch symphonies whose qualities shine through for their music alone.

On this recording, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra performs the symphony. They really do a nice job, considering the ensemble is not the finest outfit at sea. Perhaps they take to Bloch's cinematic qualities, latching onto the vivid orchestral colors and sonorities ably engineered.

If I didn't hear Jewish musical aspects in Bloch's Israel Symphony, I certainly hear such things in the expansive first movement of the composer's Suite for Viola and Orchestra. Perhaps Bloch is conjuring other modes and sounds of Southwest Asia, but I am not well-versed enough to distinguish them, and I am certain I heard a brief Klezmer clarinet doodle in here somewhere.

The only other obvious exotic element comes in the vivacious final movement, where The Far East seems to be the musical choice du jour, with obvious pentatonic melodiousness and Oriental-flavored orchestral colors amidst bright rhythms. A splendid conclusion to a complex work.

I am not as taken with Bloch's Suite for Viola, although I appreciate the symphonic sweep of the piece as a whole. While the composer's new brand of modernism is still affable for ears, with a touch more strident dissonance on hand, his musical wandering and rhapsodic waxing and waning wears on this listener, especially across the overlong 15-minute first movement. The following second and third movements have character all to themselves, but I don't find them particularly attractive nor compelling. I do hear the musical irony of the second movement, but it isn't as finely etched as Shostakovich, nor does the third movement subsume itself into grimness and nightmarish gloom as much as it could.

Yet, many find the Suite for Viola and Orchestra the finer piece of music. Once again, Bloch sustains my interest regardless, a great quality from the composer no matter how he does it, and that is considering Bloch's new compositional style. Of this new style, I hear a harmonic murkiness I might associate with Scriabin in the Suite, whereas the two early symphonies from Bloch recall a Copland-esque soundworld; and that is only two brief examples off the top of my head. Interesting!

While Russian violist Yuri Gandelsman is fine, I sense he purposefully holds back Israeli conductor Dalia Atlas much of the time. I could easily imagine more forward thrust and sharper characterizations from Gandelsman. In this way, I think Chinese violist Hong-Mei Xiao is more successful with the more impulsive Budapest Symphony MÁV, also found on Naxos, where Bloch's themes leap out the listener more vividly and effectively. Certainly compared to the smaller Atlas Camerata Orchestra here, I identify Bloch's larger-scored orchestrations better with the full Hungarian orchestra.

These two works were originally paired together on ASV in 2001 (pictured at the bottom of this blog post), later reissued on Naxos, which I now own. This pair Atlas offers are quite substantial too, a better proposition compared to the famous Abravanel recording of the Israel Symphony typically tied to Schelomo, and comes in much finer sound than the Evgeny Svetlanov performance. ASV / Naxos bears a particularly strong bass line, where the double basses, tuba, and contrabassoon really come out to play.

 

 

Works
Israel Symphony, B. 35 (30.47)
Suite for Viola and Orchestra, B. 41 (35.54)

Performers
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (B. 35)
Atlas Camerata Orchestra (B. 41)
Dalia Atlas, conductor

Label: ASV; Naxos
Year: 2000-01; 2014
Total Timing: 66.48

I am not wild regarding Bloch's Suite for Viola and Orchestra, yet the composer sustains my interest nonetheless. However, I would look to another Naxos recording for a finer rendition.

Certainly, his two early symphonies, here the Israel Symphony, are works of surprising quality and interest for this listener.

While these two orchestras are not the world's finest, they get the job done in fine sonics.

Find more Bloch recordings HERE!