Erez Bahar

The music of Mieczys?aw Weinberg continues to be issued, and continues to impress. Like his British counterpart, York Bowen, Weinberg was a composer trapped in time and place, and it is good that their very different musics are now coming to the fore with such regularity. One of the wonderful things about this disc, aside from the committed, intense playing of the instrumentalists, is the sound: crisp and clear, with only a very little reverb, which brings the sound of the instruments into sharp focus and makes the listener pay attention to the music.

Ernest Bloch's major works for violin and piano may compel respect, but they might not inspire love or give much pleasure. The violent, unstable Violin Sonata No. 1 (1920) is a bracing expression of the turbulence of World War I, and Bloch pushes the music's tension to incredible lengths over the work's 30 minutes. One may appreciate the sincerity of Bloch's expression and the effort he put in this wrenching work, but still not find it enjoyable or moving for its severity and frequent ugliness.