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Aaron Rosand plays Ernst, Godard, Lehar, Joaquim, Hubay, Enesco, Ysaye, Wienawski
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Aaron Rosand with the Luxembourg Radio/Television Symphony Orchestra, Louis de Froment conducting.
New French Review: Abiellemusique
Voici un très curieux coffret consacré au grand violoniste Aaron Rosand : rien
que des oevres concertantes de la veine romantique, mais de compositeurs pas
forcément très connus. . . 4 étoiles (4 stars) more
Classical Music on the Web says:
“It is all down to George Mendelssohn's drive and direction that Aaron Rosand became known to tens of thousands through recordings of rare romantic era repertoire. Mendelssohn, Vox's guiding light, would surely have been pleased with this pairing of discs.
“Joachim, the dedicatee of the Brahms concerto, wrote the big-boned Hungarian concerto (second of three). It is a work alive with romantic character. Rosand plays it stunningly, taken up as much in the flowing quicksilver as the étincellante fireworks. He nicely catches the strutting stiff-necked gypsiness of the central movement complete with the echoes of Brahms Violin Concerto and the Hungarian Dances. This is far from being a vapid exercise. Would that other players would take the piece up.
“The Hubay concerto is more substantial with some truly delectable writing as at 2.40 in I and a Berliozian scamper (Symphonie Fantastique) in the scherzo, a haunted adagio straight out of a Warner Brothers film from the 1940s and a slashing and ripping finale. The Enesco prelude is all brevity, highland sentiment and Romanian temperament.
“The violin writing in the compact (just over 15 mins) single-movement Ernst work spills in molten warmth from bar to bar with the display leaning on the obvious Italianate influence of Paganini. The Godard Concerto is sternly vigorous, hunting and hunted in tone but, overall, light on the aural palate. The notes deny its romantic tone calling it salon music for violin and orchestra. The music seems romantic enough to me!
“The Ysaye Chant d'Hiver is a moving little song - sentimental and flowing sweetly. Such heart-warming writing topples over into Delian expression very easily. It matters not that the music does not appear all that wintry. The originality of the orchestral effects (e.g. the upward and downwards slides at 2.40) make this well worth hearing. A superb piece - make it the track you sample to be persuaded of the merits of this set. It is perhaps more than simple coincidence that Efrem Zimbalist senior with whom Rosand studied was himself a pupil of Ysaye.
“Lehár is better known for operetta and vocal music generally. It is therefore no surprise that the violin the most vocal of instruments, short of the human larynx and counterpart of the soprano voice, should attract attention. Here Lehár gypsies and Magyarises with the best in camp Christmas tree style.
“Hubay's name lives on because of Hejre Kati - one of those rip-roaring warhorses against which aspirant Heifetzs feel they have to test their skills and prove themselves. There is the usual slow introduction then an increasingly whirling dance off which sparks fly in welding torch profusion.
“Rosand takes time along the way to admire the view - perhaps shed a tear - but is also a masterful match for the flightier Hungarian stuff.
“Wieniawski's Concert Polonaise has that gracious balletic quality usually associated with his two concertos synthesised with Tchaikovskian atmospherics. Indeed the opening fanfare seems to be a variant of the fate motif from Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony.” FOUR STARS.
Review copyright © 2000 Rob Barnett, Editor, Classical Music on the Web. Reprinted with permission.
2 Compact Discs:65:51 & 68:03, ADD, Vox Box VOX CDX 5102, 1993
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