Bloch, Pärt: Poème Mystique / Grether

Elsa Grether, violin; Ferenc Vizi, piano

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)
1. Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano, Poème mystique (1924)
2. Nigun, from Baal Shem (Three Pictures of Chassidic Life) (1923)
Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano (1920)
3. Agitato
4. Molto Quieto
5. Moderato
Arvo Pärt (1935°)
6. Fratres (version for violin and piano, 1980)

Elsa Grether, a charismatic young violinist characterised by her passionate and intensely poetic playing, performs for her first recording - with the Romanian pianist Ferenc Vizi - two sonatas for violin and piano by Ernest Bloch which form a diptych.
The composer described the first as 'the world as it is: the frantic struggle of blind and primordial forces', and the second as 'the world as it should be: the world of which we dream; a world full of idealism, faith, fervour, hope, where Jewish themes go side by side with the Credo and the Gloria of the Gregorian Chant'.
The sonatas are framed by Arvo Pärt's Fratres, a ritual between silence and sound and Bloch's Nigun, part of his famous cycle Baal Shem, probably one his most popular pieces. The title of the album, Poème Mystique, aptly evokes a vibrant programme composed of works of great emotional power, linked by a profound sentiment of
mysticism, whether they draw their inspiration from Gregorian chant or from Judaism.

Price: $27.98

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