IDAGIO | Bloch: Schelomo - Hebraic Rhapsody, Suite for Viola and Orchestra 635212093221

Featuring

Parry Karp
Kenneth Woods
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Ernest Bloch

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Bloch decided that no mortal singer could adequately embody Solomon in Schelomo, leading him to imagine the cello's voice as King Solomon and the orchestra as his age and experience.

Performer Biography

Parry Karp, the cellist on this recording, has been the cellist of the Pro Arte Quartet for 49 years, the longest tenure of any member in the quartet's over 100-year history.

Performer Biography

Parry Karp gave the first performance in Romania of Ernest Bloch's Schelomo with the National Radio Orchestra in Bucharest in 2002, a significant event given the country's political climate at the time.

Composition History

The cello version of Bloch's Suite for Viola and Piano was arranged by pianist Adolph Baller and cellist Gábor Rejtő, who made the first recording in 1969.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Ernest Bloch, the composer, originally intended for Schelomo to be a work for solo voice and orchestra, setting text from the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes.

Composition History

Bloch's Suite for Viola and Piano was the first major work he wrote entirely in the United States after his immigration and won the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Prize for a new chamber work.

Recording & Production

The first performance of the cello version of Bloch's Suite with orchestra was given by Parry Karp and Kenneth Woods with the Oregon East Symphony in 2008, which directly led to this recording.