Credits:

EVGENY KISSIN/BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER/KARAJAN

Description:

A CD reissue of the first VOX label recording of Aaron Rosand (1927-2019), who has many fans in Japan, is now available. Rosand was born in the Chicago suburb of Hammond to a Polish immigrant father, a singer, and a Russian immigrant mother, a pianist. His musical talent was remarkable, and he made his concert debut at the age of nine, performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frederick Stock the following year. Rosand's first teacher was Leon Sametini, a student of Otakar Szewczyk and Eugène Ysaÿe, and after Sametini's death, she studied with Efrem Zimbalist, a student of Leopold Auer, at the Curtis Institute of Music. He was a student of both the famous Franco-Belgian and Russian schools of music. Although Rosand had acquired sufficient skills upon graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music, he found it difficult to establish a career in the United States immediately after World War II, when the country was dominated by top-level musicians from Europe, and he initially worked in a commercial studio. However, Nathan Milshtein, who recognized his talent, encouraged him to go to Europe, and Henrik Schelling introduced him to his own manager, who encouraged Rosand. The VOX label recorded many Romantic music recordings.However, Rosand's greatest admirer was German-Austrian music, and in 1961 he recorded Beethoven's complete violin sonatas for VOX. The first VOX recordings made prior to this were Brahms' First and Second Sonatas, recorded in mono in 1956 and reissued in 1957, but lost to the stereo boom. The Beethoven is a 1961 stereo recording, and according to Biddulph, this is the first CD reissue of either, and the Brahms is the "first reissue" from the LP era as well. Rosand's playing is lucid and crisp, with a tempo that is fast by today's standards. The music flows without stagnation, and the heavy notes come out effortlessly. However, at the right moment, the tempo is slowed down and the music sings, and combined with a tone that pictures "lustrous beauty of sound," this makes for a very attractive Brahms performance. Pianist Irene Frisler, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the same school as Rosand, and Rosand's wife-to-be, has recorded the piano concertos of Schumann, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff for Musical Appreciation Records, as well as Richard Strauss's Burleske She has recorded the piano concertos of Schumann, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff, as well as the Burleske by Richard Strauss, and her crisp technique contributes to Rosand's lucid music making. Naxos Japan