Bloch: Sacred Service/ Foss: Song of Songs/ Ben-Haim: Sweet Psalmist of Israel  (Audio CD) 
by Robert Merrill

This lovely work is a setting of the standard Friday evening Sabbath service, and it will be familiar to Jews everywhere. Of course, all of the tunes are original, though as always with Bloch's Jewish works, there is a strong flavor of the Far East in the cast of his harmony. There isn't very much high quality Jewish sacred music. There have always been plenty of Jewish composers, but until the second half of this century, the circumstances of the Diaspora militated against the security and accumulation of wealth that a large musical establishment operating out of a synagogue necessarily requires. Of all of the more recent settings of the Jewish liturgy, this is the finest, and this performance is also the best it has ever received. --David Hurwitz