Bloch N

Abodah - Melody - Suite hébraïque - Sonata for Violin and Piano No 1 - Sonata for Violin and Piano No 2, 'Poème mystiq
Miriam Kramer vn Simon Over pf

Naxos     8 554460 (75 minutes : DDD)

Reviewed: Gramophone (6/2000)
You don't have to be Jewish - but if Martinu, Bartok and the neo-classicists are to your taste, then Bloch should be treated as a priority. Kramer is a good starting-point
 
Miriam Kramer's programme might usefully serve as a sort of 'Bloch starter-pack', with the delightful Suite hebraique as its tuneful opener. 'Rapsodie', the Suite's first movement, harbours a noble melody reminiscent of top-drawer Max Bruch and Kramer's performance of it could hardly be more heartfelt. Listening again to the two violin sonatas, I was struck afresh at how much I prefer the organic evolution of the Second to the aggressive, quasi-Bartokian gesturing of the First. Both performances are extremely good (though Simon Over might have played just a little more quietly at the start of the First Sonata's slow movement), but the Second is the finer of the two, especially in the ecstatic, double-stopped statements of the central theme. Scanning the catalogue for rivals, Heifetz is an obvious point of reference, and Friedman a viable option; but the combination of Kramer's musicianship and Naxos's price will be irresistible to most repertory explorers.
As to the two shorter pieces, I would agree with Richard Whitehouse (another excellent annotator) that the Melody recalls Faure. Abodah is something rather special and, like the 'Prayer' for cello, has enjoyed the advocacy of a superb Golden Oldie interpreter. Yehudi Menuhin's 1939 recording might justifiably be rated as his greatest solo 78, a reading of such poise and tempered passion that one cannot imagine it ever being equalled. Still, Kramer's version from 60 years later is pretty good (a little slower, a little less intense than Menuhin), and the recording is, as one would imagine, rather better.
Rob Cowan