Bloch: Schelomo – Rhapsodie hébraique
Ulrich Witteler, Cello
Bamberger Symphoniker – Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie
Jakub Hruša, Conductor
Genuin
September 2023
A tremendous song without words: Ernest Bloch’s Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra Shelomo is one of the most important solo works of the 20th century, in which the quality of the cello, its likeness to the human voice, is condensed with overwhelming artistic expression. Ulrich Witteler, the principal cellist of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, recorded Shelomo for GENUIN with “his” orchestra under the direction of Jakub Hrůša. The outstanding cellist and the world-class orchestra under its principal conductor play this impressive testimony to Jewish intellectual life, cast in a musical language from around 1915 that, with moving intensity, combined elements of Jewish sacred music with the latest stylistic elements!