Sentimental Work: Amit Peled

In 1924 Ernest Bloch wrote three short pieces which he called ‘From Jewish Life’. The first of these, Prayer, was the first work I studied with the Russian cellist and tutor Boris Pergamenschikow when I began studying in Berlin. Having grown up in Israel, I’d had Jewish music around me all my life, but until working with Boris I hadn’t thought about what it meant. It opened up the whole world of Jewish music to me, and it’s what led me to call my inaugural CD The Jewish Soul. Living away from my home country of Israel in the cosmopolitan environment of the US, I’ve found my Jewish identity has become more and more important. I play this piece very often as an encore and each time it takes me to a different place, depending on the hall, the pianist and the audience. It’s a perfect example of what I call ‘the Jewish sonata form’…