Ernest Bloch, 1880-1959. Concerto Grosso No. 1. Completed 1925. Scored for string orchestra with piano obbligato.
In 1920, the Swiss-born American composer Ernest Bloch was asked to found a music school in Cleveland, Ohio. Attracted by the prospect of a position that would allow him to focus his energies, he accepted the offer, and the Cleveland Institute of Music was born. Already renowned as both composer and teacher, Bloch rapidly built a following at the Institute, raising the enrollment from seven in December of 1920 to 200 the following October, and 400 a year later.
Despite his success, Bloch soon found himself in conflict with his wealthy supporters, perhaps because of his refusal to compromise on artistic issues. These difficulties led to his departure after only five years, certainly more of a loss for Cleveland than for the composer.
The Concerto Grosso was composed shortly before Bloch's departure, in response to the doubts of some students that such a work could still be written. The composer's daughter, Suzanne, writes that they ``were skeptical when Bloch told them that one could still write alive and original music with the means that had existed for so long.'' As proof, he wrote the Prelude of the Concerto Grosso. When the student orchestra played it with obvious enthusiasm, Bloch shouted, ``What do you think now?... It has just old fashioned notes!''
Over the next few months, Bloch finished the remaining movements, completing the work with a Fugue that again drew only on classical techniques. And so it is that we have today a work that successfully demonstrates the vitality of traditional approaches while remaining unmistakably twentieth-century.
© 1997, Geoff Kuenning
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