Ernest Bloch: Schelomo für Cello & Orchester

Like many musicians, Tim Posner was born in a musical environment. His father was a violist and his mother, a cellist, became his first teacher. After studying at the junior department of the Royal Academy of Music, Tim Posner crossed the Channel at eighteen years old to join the prestigious class of Leonid Gorochov (winner of first prize at the Geneva Competition in 1986) at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover. He also regularly participates in masterclasses with Steven Isserlis. In 2010, he founded the Teyber Trio together with Tim Crawford and Timothy Ridout, with which he remains active. Recently, he was also appointed principal cellist of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. After Tim Posner's first recording of a Concertante by the English Romantic composer Cipriani Potter (with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales), this is his first major recording. Ernest Bloch's Schelomo was the remarkable piece on which the entire programme is based. "It is a work that I have loved since childhood and have always wanted to play, but because it requires a large orchestra, the opportunity never arose, so it is a fantastic chance to finally fulfil that dream. Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch, another work with Hebrew resonances, was a natural choice. To follow in the footsteps of these two composers, we could have added the Concerto by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the work of a great musician who had to flee Europe because of his Jewish heritage. However, I chose contrast and originality and followed the suggestion of a friend who introduced me to the rarely performed Concerto by Ernö Dohnányi. This jubilant work could offer no more impressive counterweight to the tragedy of Schelomo."