Ernest Bloch: America - An Epic Rhapsody/Suite Hebraique (Naxos Audio CD)

Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Atlas Camerata Orchestra
Dalia Atlas, conductor

Swiss-born Bloch, a pupil of Eugène Ysaÿe, became an American citizen in 1924. He has a particular reputation as a Jewish composer, and during his life his compositional style underwent several changes. He was hugely prolific, and wrote masterpieces of orchestral, instrumental, vocal and chamber music.

America, An Epic Rhapsody, vividly describes the history of the country using styles ranging from Native American folk-music and jazz to the dissonance of car horns. The Suite hébraïque, composed especially for Bloch's seventieth birthday festival in Chicago, draws on traditional Jewish melodies to evoke a sense of nostalgia.