Track Listing

1. Ernest Bloch: "Nigun" (from Baal Shem)
2. Ernest Bloch: "Schelomo"
3. Max Bruch: "Kol Nidre"
4. Ernest Bloch: "Prayer" (from Jewish Life)
5. Ernest Bloch: "Meditation Hebraique"
6. Maurice Ravel: "Kaddisch"
7. Zavel Zilberts: "Reb Dovid'l"
8. Zavel Zilberts: "V'shom'ru"
9. Zavel Zilberts: "Haneros Halolu"
10. Jacob Wasilkovsky: "Al Tiro"
11. Zavel Zilberts: "Havdolo"
12. David Meyerowitz: "Gelt" (Wie Shlecht es is Ohn Gelt)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26137 in Music
• Released on: 2002-09-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
A beautiful collection of great Jewish Music. Classics by Ernest Bloch and Max Bruch, mixed with rarely heard gems by Maurice Ravel, Zavel Zilberts, Jacob Wasilkovsky, and David Meyerowitz. "Wie Shlecht es is Ohn Gelt", a Yiddish Theatre gem, is alone worth the price of admission for its mixture of pathos and humor. The songs by Zilberts are an important and beautiful part of the Jewish music legacy that must be heard.

All About Jazz, May 2003
"Jewish Cello Masterpieces, a special delight...a soaring tribute....that should be sought after by both musicians and listeners..."

The New York Jewish Week December 28, 2003
Top 10 CD's of 2003. "........powerful, dark and brooding music, superbly played by Locker"

Customer Reviews

Encore! Encore!
Perhaps no other instrument captures the sad-sweet contemplative mood of classical Jewish music like a cello. Is this because so many Jewish composers have written for the cello, that we think of it as a "Jewish" instrument? Or did they choose the cello because it sings so beautifully of the Jewish soul? Like the chicken and the egg, this question may never be answered -- but it doesn't really matter. This superb music is an important part of our Jewish legacy in its own right.

On this CD, cellist Richard Locker, accompanied by Susan Walters on piano, brings together 12 classical Jewish pieces, some well-known and others not so, in an absolutely magnificent performance -- so beautiful, that it literally brought tears to my eyes. The CD starts out with a niggun (Hasidic tune) by Ernest Bloch, then moves into to the dark, somber strains of Max Bruch's "Kol Nidre." From there it rises in mood, to end with a playful Yiddish theater piece, "Wie schecht is ohne Gelt" (How awful it is to be without money!) Included is the rarely heard "Meditation Hebraique" by Bloch, which he dedicated to Pable Casals, and a trio of pieces by the lesser-known composer, Zavel Zilberts (1881-1949), who directed the Choral Society of New York and played with the Metropolitan Opera. All of this is performed on a cello made by Nicolo Gagliano, dated 1780. To hear such a fine old instrument played by a talented, sensitive musician is truly a mechayah! (pleasure)

I Love This Record!
This is one of the most outstanding CD's I've heard in years......in fact I did not believe that any one was making records like this anymore The playing is deeply expressive, extraordinarily impassioned, virtuosic, and distinguished.
Ernest Bloch's "Nigun" is given a white hot reading that certainly ranks among the best, and "Schelomo" has everything one could want; exquisite tone, complete range of expression, and a concise realization of the structure that makes the interpretation compelling from beginning to end. Speaking of tone, this is not just a beautiful sound but a widely varied and subtly nuanced one, and despite the unified theme of the record each piece is given its own, unique voice.
Also on the disc is a strikingly original interpretation of Max Bruch's Kol Nidre and a number of less familiar pieces. Notable among these are the deeply expressive songs by Zavel Zilberts (my favorite is one called V'shom'ru) and a witty example by David Meyerowitz from the Yiddish Theatre, entitled Gelt. The recorded cello sound is exceptionally vibrant. This is a must have record for serious music lovers and for those who prefer the "old" values in music making

Superb performances
Although Locker is not widely known yet, he is a remarkable cellist and has recorded an extremely beautiful CD of music related to Jewish themes. Some of the pieces were familiar to me, like Ravel's "Kadish"; others are more obscure but come to life under his fingers.
In admiring this recording, I imagined hearing the qualities of both Heifetz and Casals. Mr. Locker is clearly a very creative player with a style of playing which is uniquely vivid, honest, and compelling.
The sound quality of the recording is excellent, and I certainly recommend its inclusion in the library of not only those who love the voice of the cello, or Jewish themes, but anyone who admires great string playing.