Bloch: Piano Quintets Nos. 1 & 2, Goldner String Quartet

New from Hyperion that month was a disc of Ernest Bloch’s chamber works. Neatly presented in chronological order are his two Piano Quintets, dated 1921–23 and 1957, which sandwich three works for string quartet: Night, Paysages (Landscapes) (both written in 1923) and Two Pieces (1938–50). The reviewer was immediately struck by the evocative nature of the music, the tonality was slightly unfamiliar, and yet profoundly moving, prompting real curiosity about its background.

Bloch was a talented young violinist, so it is hardly surprising that he writes so well for strings. His use of quarter tones in the First Piano Quintet adds much colour and heightens the “agitato” nature of the first movement. A friend of Bloch summed up the second movement, Andante mistico, perfectly: “…mysterious, esoteric and fantastic. It is the dream of far horizons, magical islands of the Pacific…” (It’s worth noting one movement from Paysages is entitled Tongataboo, which is indeed an island in the Pacific.) The Allegro energico is brooding in character; the piano is almost at battle with the strings in places, and at times almost Messiaenic, particularly when the strings play at octaves over the rumbling piano accompaniment.

The Second Piano Quintet was the last chamber work Bloch completed, and was premiered posthumously. His daughter said of the work: “Resigned, no longer thinking about exotic lands, Bloch now writes a work that is more sober and abstract.” It is true to say the work is less weighty than the first, but it uses the same distinct and slightly ambiguous harmonic language to great effect, and is played with utter brilliance and conviction by the Goldner Quartet and Piers Lane.