Aaron Rosand (violin)
In Memoriam
rec. live, 1972-2001
Rhine Classics RH-029 [4 CDs: 304]
I’ve just reviewed another disc from Rhine Classics recently which presents recordings by Berl Senofsky, an almost exact contemporary – Senofsky was born a year earlier – of Aaron Rosand. Whereas Senofsky’s flame burned brightly but tended to grow dimmer over the years, Rosand’s career tended to progress more consistently, and he was better represented by various record labels, albeit relatively small ones. Like Senofsky, Rosand was one of the many violinists unofficially blacklisted in America, thanks to the ever-loving generosity of Isaac Stern.
As far as I’m concerned, Rosand operated at an exceptionally high level and was a more vibrant, all-round performer than Senofsky, and a romanticist to his fingertips. He was one of the many who show marked awareness of Heifetz’s influence and his expressive playing is irradiated by Heifetz’s aura. These four CDs are ample proof that we have had amongst us violinists of convincing and committed personalised romantic instincts who play with superb technical address and bring to their playing zest and warmth. Not just Rosand – think of players such as Bronislaw Gimpel, for example.
This 4-CD set contains live recordings made over a three-decade period in a variety of locations. From 1972 there’s a small recital with pianist Stephen Glover in which Vieuxtemps’s Souvenir d’Amérique, on ‘Yankee Doodle’ elicits just the right kind of audience laughter, and the two Hubay favourites are dextrously bowed. Sarasate’s Malagueña draws rich coloration from the violin’s lower positions. The only demerit here is that the microphone is too near the piano and one can hear pedalling action. Rosand recorded Joachim’s Concerto No.2 for Vox, in the early 1970s. Rhine’s example comes from a Radio Netherlands broadcast of May 1974 with the Gelderland Symphony conducted by Leo Driehuys, and Rosand aficionados will note he’s somewhat quicker – though never slicker – live than in the studio and brings huge zest to the work’s Hungarian elements. Wieniawski’s Second Concerto was taped in Japan in 1983 with the NHK Symphony under Ferdinand Leitner and finds Rosand in sizzling form, not least in the finale – one can relish his virtuosic commitment as much as his romantic cantilena.
There are more concertos in CD2. Paganini’s First is accompanied by the Minnesota Symphony under none other than Herbert Blomstedt in 1982. This live performance is heard via what is said to be a stereo broadcast and I’ve no real reason to doubt that, though the orchestra is oddly balanced – the orchestral strings are easily swamped by the brass – and there are pounding sounds in fortes. Rosand sails serenely on. His lodestar in Prokofiev’s G minor Concerto is not Heifetz from the sound of it but David Oistrakh and he infuses a great many effusive expressive devices to keep the music alive and verdant. The final movement of Ysaÿe’s Second Sonata for solo violin and the Gigue from Bach’s Second Partita are Rosand-announced encores from this RAI Rome broadcast with the eminent Peter Maag on the rostrum for the Prokofiev.
For his Tokyo recital with pianist Geir Henning Braaten in June 1983 we have a more complete example of Rosand’s structuring of concerts. He begins with a Handel Sonata (Op.1 No.10 in Leopold Auer’s edition), vested not with doctrinaire aridity but rather played with gleaming tonal lustre and communicative warmth and follows it with the Kreutzer Sonata. This can profitably be contrasted with the recording he made with his wife, Eileen Flissler – they recorded the complete cycle for Vox – in which the opening movement is, once again, fast and fiery (‘super-fiery’, as the kids would say). This is a truly virile reading with just a very few ‘on the wing’ imprecisions and not too far off the way Perlman and Ashkenazy used to play it – except Rosand is a more intense performer than Perlman. Following that there is a daredevil but eloquent performance of another piece by Ysaÿe, his Sixth Sonata, and a sequence of four Heifetz transcriptions. Rosand recorded an album of Heifetz Transcriptions in 1990, so these earlier inscriptions are attractive examples of his live playing, not least for the veiled coloration he brings to the lovely Brahms transcription, from Lied, Op.105 called ‘Contemplation’ and a zesty Prokofiev March, balanced by an equally resinous Khachaturian Sabre Dance. One of his three encores from this concert is Carl Engel’s Sea-Shell arranged by Rosand’s teacher, Efrem Zimbalist, which is played muted and beautifully.
The final disc houses a complete recital given with Gerald Robbins in Pacific University, Azusa, California in 2001. Rosand was adamant that recitals should not be of the four-sonata variety but should showcase an artist’s gifts for sonatas and also smaller pieces. He’s true to his word here with a Vivaldi-Respighi sonata notably more personalised and vibrant than Milstein’s motoric performances. He and Robbins essay Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy in an Old School practice where concertos can be heard in recitals, especially when played as richly and evocatively as here. Bach’s Chaconne never sounds rushed or harried, unfolding sensitively. It’s only when you look at the timings that you realise that at 13:40 it’s not an especially slow performance but is so artfully phrased that it arrests time. Once again there are four Heifetz transcriptions in this recital – appropriately as the concert was held for the ‘Jascha Heifetz Society’ – which again includes the Sabre Dance but also Ponce’s Estrellita. There’s also another Brahms ‘Contemplation’ in the final encores, a lovely set of three pieces in transcriptions by Heifetz, Kochanski and Milstein.
These are tremendously vibrant examples of Rosand’s art. As noted, the sound can be a little variable but these are all live recordings. No lover of his art can pass by this classy set.
Jonathan Woolf
Availability: Rhine Classics
Contents
CD1 | [80]
VIEUXTEMPS Souvenir d’Amérique, on ‘Yankee Doodle’, Op 17
HUBAY Hejre Kati, Op 32 (“Scènes de la Csárda”: No 4)
HUBAY Der Zephyr, Op 30/5 (from “Blumenleben”)
SARASATE Malagueña, Op 21/2
Stephen Glover, piano | 5.V.1972
JOACHIM Violin Concerto No 2, Op 11 “Hungarian”
Gelderland SO | Leo Driehuys | 22.V.1974
WIENIAWSKI Violin Concerto No 2, Op 22
NHK SO | Ferdinand Leitner | 17.VI.1983
CD2 | [68]
PAGANINI Violin Concerto No 1, Op 6 (Cadenza: Sauret / Rosand)
Minnesota SO | Herbert Blomstedt | 12.XI.1982
PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No 2, Op 63
bis/encores, announce by Rosand:
YSAŸE Solo Sonata, Op 27/2: IV. Les Furies
BACH Violin Solo Partita No 2 BWV 1004: IV. Gigue
OS RAI Roma | Peter Maag | 7.V.1988
CD3 | [78]
HÄNDEL Violin Sonata in G minor, Op 1 No 10, HWV 368 (ed. Auer)
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No 9 in A major, Op 47 “à Kreutzer”
YSAŸE Violin solo Sonata No 6, Op 27/6
4 HEIFETZ transcriptions:
• MENDELSSOHN / HEIFETZ Sweet remembrance, Op 19/1
• PROKOFIEV / HEIFETZ March, Op 33
• BRAHMS / HEIFETZ Contemplation, Op 105/1
• KHACHATURIAN / HEIFETZ Sabre Dance from “Gayaneh”
SAINT-SAËNS Introduction et Rondò Capriccioso, Op 28
bis/encores, announce by Rosand:
CHOPIN / MILSTEIN Nocturne in C-sharp minor
BRAHMS / JOACHIM Hungarian Dance No 4
Carl ENGEL / Efrem ZIMBALIST Sea Shell
Geir Henning Braaten, piano | VI.1983
CD4 | [79]
VIVALDI / RESPIGHI Sonata in D major, RV 10
BRUCH Scottish Fantasy in E-flat major, Op 46
BACH Ciaccona (from Violin Solo Partita No 2 BWV 1004)
4 HEIFETZ transcriptions:
• RAVEL / HEIFETZ Valses nobles et sentimentales (Nos 6-7)
• PONCE / HEIFETZ Estrellita
• Flausino VALE / HEIFETZ Ao pe’ da fogueira (Preludio XV)
• KHACHATURIAN / HEIFETZ Sabre Dance from “Gayaneh”
RAVEL Tzigane “Rhapsodie de Concert”
bis/encores, announce by Rosand:
BRAHMS / HEIFETZ Contemplation Op 105/1
FALLA / KOCHANSKY Jota (from “7 Popular Spanish Songs”)
CHOPIN / MILSTEIN Nocturne in C-sharp minor
Gerald Robbins, piano | 28.I.2001
