According to an early interpreter,Frank Bridge’s sonata was written‘in utter despair over the futility ofwar and the state of the world’,while Vaughan Williams’s studiestestify to one of the deepestsources of his inspiration.

Ernest Bloch composed From Jewish Life for cello and piano in 1924, while Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Each of the three movements (“Prayer”, “Supplication”, “Jewish Song”) evokes the emotional intensity of the Jewish experience in Eastern Europe in past centuries. All three Solo Cello Suites were written near the end of the composer’s life and reflect his love for the music of Bach.