Search - Ernest Bloch, Piers Lane :: Bloch: Piano Quintets

Wonderful Music, Wonderfully played

R. E. Glasgow | Baltimore, MD USA | 04/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There have been only a few recordings of Bloch's chamber music that have stayed in the catalog for any length of time. This one should persevere for years. I sat down intending only to listen to the first Piano Quintet from 1923 but ended up staying through the 1957 Second Quintet. The music is just that compulsively listenable. I have never understood why Bloch's music does not figure in more recital programs and recordings; his chamber music is particularly appealing. His music has a characteristic sound world, much as Bela Bartok's does. As Bloch grew older, his music became somewhat more spare and acerbic but, like Frank Martin's music, it remains uniquely his.



The performances by Piers Lane with the Goldner String Quartet are wonderful, the recording is rich and full, and the notes are a model of their kind."