Aaron Rosand Live at Mills College
Reminders of the Golden Age with the keeper of the flame in concert
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Felix Mendelssohn, Béla Bartók, Johann Sebastian Bach
Genre:
DVD
Label: Video Artists International
Magazine Review Date: 4/2005
Media Format: Digital Versatile Disc
Media Runtime: 72
Mastering:
Stereo
Catalogue Number: VAIDVD4282
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Violin and Piano |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Christian Ferras, Violin Claude Debussy, Composer Guy Bourassa, Piano |
Pièce en forme de habanera |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Christian Ferras, Violin Guy Bourassa, Piano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
Tzigane |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Christian Ferras, Violin Guy Bourassa, Piano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Christian Ferras, Violin Guy Bourassa, Piano |
(3) Sonatas and 3 Partitas, Movement: Partita No. 3 in E, BWV1006 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Christian Ferras, Violin Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra |
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
Alexander Brott, Conductor Christian Ferras, Violin Felix Mendelssohn, Composer Orchestre symphonique de Radio-Canada |
Composer or Director: Fritz Kreisler, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Edouard(-Victoire-Antoine) Lalo, Jean Sibelius, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms
Genre:
DVD
Label: EMI Classics
Magazine Review Date: 4/2005
Media Format: Digital Versatile Disc
Media Runtime: 131
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: DVB5996859
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Liebesleid |
Fritz Kreisler, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Fritz Kreisler, Composer |
Symphonie espagnole, Movement: Intermezzo (Allegretto non troppo) |
Edouard(-Victoire-Antoine) Lalo, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Edouard(-Victoire-Antoine) Lalo, Composer Vladimir Yampolsky, Piano |
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Conductor Johannes Brahms, Composer Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra |
Romances, Movement: No. 1 in G, Op. 40 (c1802) |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Conductor Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra |
(24) Caprices, Movement: No. 23 in D, "Il laberinto armonico" |
Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Conductor Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Composer |
Composer or Director: César Franck, Pablo (Martín Melatón) Sarasate (y Navascuéz), Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Jean-Marie Leclair, Sergey Prokofiev, Sergey Rachmaninov, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Fryderyk Chopin
Genre:
DVD
Label: Video Artists International
Magazine Review Date: 4/2005
Media Format: Digital Versatile Disc
Media Runtime: 78
Mastering:
Stereo
Catalogue Number: VAIDVD4311
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(12) Sonatas for Violin and Continuo, Quatrième, Movement: No 3 D |
Jean-Marie Leclair, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Jean-Marie Leclair, Composer Robert Koenig, Piano |
Sonata for Violin and Piano |
César Franck, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin César Franck, Composer Robert Koenig, Piano |
(6) Sonatas for Violin and Continuo, Movement: No. 1 in G minor, BWV1020 (doubtful: now thought CPE Bach) |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Robert Koenig, Piano |
(6) Morceaux, Movement: No. 6, Valse sentimentale in F minor |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer Robert Koenig, Piano |
(The) Love for Three Oranges, Movement: March |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Robert Koenig, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
Zigeunerweisen |
Pablo (Martín Melatón) Sarasate (y Navascuéz), Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Pablo (Martín Melatón) Sarasate (y Navascuéz), Composer Robert Koenig, Piano |
Nocturnes, Movement: No. 20 in C sharp minor, Op. posth |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Robert Koenig, Piano |
(21) Hungarian Dances, Movement: No. 2 in D minor |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Johannes Brahms, Composer Robert Koenig, Piano |
Gopak |
Modest Mussorgsky, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Modest Mussorgsky, Composer Robert Koenig, Piano |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2, Movement: Adagio sostenuto |
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Robert Koenig, Piano Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer |
Author: Jeremy Nicholas
After the stylish appetiser (Leclair), the main course is the Franck Sonata. This has a certain authenticity as Rosand studied the work with Ysaÿe’s student Leon Sametini using Ysaÿe’s original score (the work was a wedding present from Franck to Ysaÿe). Rosand plays it with ravishing poetry and passion, but the suspicion raised in the Leclair sonata that the piano was underpowered is here confirmed. The Yamaha itself sounds lovely and Robert Koenig plays it with sensitivity, but, whether through lack of projection or misjudged recording balance, it simply does not match Rosand’s dynamic scale, fatally undermining the dialogue so essential in this work. The sweetmeats are tossed off with charm and aplomb (though with a hint of approximation in the final pages of Zigeunerweisen), and include Preghiera, a little-known collaboration between Kreisler and Rachmaninov. It turns out to be an adaptation of the theme from the slow move- ment of the Second Piano Concerto (I thought the performance a tad vulgar, but hush).
By contrast to Rosand, the French violinist Christian Ferras (1933-82) is filmed in black-and-white and given a well-integrated balance between himself and his pianist, Fred Astaire lookalike Guy Bourassa who, unusually for an accompanist, though his score is laid in the piano, knows the music by heart. Considering the age of these Canadian television broadcasts from the early 1960s, the sound quality is remarkably good, though the production values are primitive: a small be-curtained studio and the cameras offering just three angles: two-shot, close-up (Ferras) and close-up(Bourassa).
Both artists play with the assurance of long association – I particularly liked the delicacy and nonchalance of the Debussy Sonata, and Ferras’s fiery dispatch of the Tzigane. The polished Orchestre de Radio-Canada provides solid support in a fine account of the Mendelssohn. Altogether a valuable reminder of a wonderful artist. VAI’s insert says nothing of Ferras and Bourassa; I don’t mind no frills but such omissions are as discourteous to the artists as they are to the buying public.
So to the Violinists’ Violinist (11/04). The svelte figure and film-star good looks evident in some grainy footage shot in 1937 make David Oistrakh almost unrecognisable from the later podgy musical icon familiar to all. The art-deco setting, the moody lighting and the anonymous pianist banished to the back of the stage provide an echt period setting for Liebesleid. The Intermezzo from Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole was filmed 15 years later, the year Stalin and Prokofiev died.
The remainder of the programme comes from the 1960s and is the compelling reason for investing in this DVD: three of the greatest concertos in the repertoire played with all the mastery and maturity of Oistrakh at the height of his powers. The unflashy demeanour, his warm, silky tone and the palette of colours achieved with such economical means make for a richly enjoyable and rewarding experience. The Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos are similar in conception to his DG recordings from that period, though 14 years on from his 1952 recording of the Brahms, the slow movement is taken at a broader tempo. Oistrakh’s encore after the Tchaikovsky is a rarity – Locatelli’s Caprice Op 3 No 23 orchestrated (and conducted) by Rozhdestvensky. The bonus, filmed in Japan in 1967, is of a rehearsal of the first movement of the Kreutzer Sonata. Single camera, extreme close-up on Oistrakh for the duration. The poor pianist, Frida Bauer, might as well be a backing track.
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
SubscribeGramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.