ARTEK Recordings
Contents of CD11 Booklet
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ARTEK Recordings
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I am dedicating this album of Polish composers to my
beloved father, who was
born in Lowicz, Poland, at the turn of the last century. It was his intense
love of music and the violin that had prompted my early musical training in
Chicago before my 4th birthday. His devotion and sacrifice to pay for a
violin and music lessons during the depression years cannot be forgotten.
Recording the Szymanowski works has special significance as these pieces
were written for Paul Kochanski, the previous owner of my violin a
Guarnerius Del Gesu, that is still known as the "Ex-Kochanski". Karol
Szymanowski, Paul Kochanski and the incomparable pianist, Artur Rubinstein,
were very close friends. This may account for the extraordinary difficulty
of the piano scores. It seems only fitting to record these works for the
violin for which they were conceived.
The Chopin Nocturnes adapt so beautifully to the violin. The expressive use
of the vibrato and portamento enhance the
lyric line. In this recording, I have included two rarely heard
transcriptions by the 19th century German violinist August Wilhelmj. The
famous E-Flat Major Nocturne is a brilliant
adaptation by the Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, and the
C-sharp minor Nocturne was brilliantly transcribed by Nathan Milstein one
of the master violinists of the 20th century. This composition, I might add,
was my motherıs favorite.
The three works of Henryk Wieniawski, another violin great of the nineteenth
century, have been neglected of late. The current trend of recital
programming has, for the most part, eliminated short pieces in favor of
major sonatas. Violinist-composer works by Vieuxtemps, Paganini, Wieniawski,
Sarasate, Kreisler, etc., have all but disappeared from the printed program.
This is sad, as no composer can exploit violinistic possibilities as well as
master violinist composers.
It is my fervent desire to keep these virtuoso works from being forgotten.
Nineteenth and twentieth century audiences clamored to hear them and
invariably this was what brought the house down and remained memorable.
Aaron Rosand
Aaron Rosand, violin
Born in Hammond, Indiana to
professional musicians, Aaron Rosand began studying the violin at the age
of three-and-a-half. He made his first public appearances at the age of five
and quickly became a celebrity,
making his Chicago Symphony debut with Frederick Stock when he was
ten years old.
Rosand represents an extraordinary legacy, both in his having studied with
pupils of Ysa˙e (Leon Sametini) and of Leopold Auer (Efram Zimbalist), and
in his playing of the famed 1741 "Kochanski" del Gesù violin. Harold
Schoenberg of the New York Times has praised Aaron Rosand as "one of the
great living exponents of Romantic violin music." He is repeatedly compared
to such legends as Heifetz, Milstein, Francescatti, Elman, Kreisler and
Ysa˙e and has collaborated with some of the
greatest conductors of our time, including Bernstein, Kubelik, Leinsdorf,
Maazel, Reiner, Rostropovitch and Tennstedt. After
making his debut with the Chicago Symphony, Aaron Rosand has since appeared
with the orchestras of New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Houston, London,
Paris, Munich, Tokyo, Rome, Vienna and Brussels, as well as the National
Symphony, Bayerischer Rundfunk, BBC Wales, English Chamber Orchestra,
Concertgebouw, and Halle Orchestra among many others. In May of 1997, Rosand
made a triumphant return to Carnegie Hall, performing a recital which
included works by Handel, Bruch, Bach, Stravinsky and Hubay and left his
audience on their feet with excitement.
According to Gramophone Magazine, Aaron Rosand has made "some of the
greatest recordings of this century." He records for Harmonia Mundi, Vox,
Audiofon, and Biddulph and his discography encompasses the major violin
works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chausson,
Franck, Grieg, Handel, Kreisler, Mendelssohn, Paganini, Ravel,
Saint-Saëns, Sarasate, Sibelius, Strauss, Ysa˙e and Walton. With the advent
of the CD and the re-issue of more then twelve Rosand
recordings, a resurgence of interest in this legendary "violinistıs
violinist" has prompted the release of eight new recordings, including
sonatas by Franck, Brahms and Beethoven, as well as Rosandıs first
recordings of the Beethoven and Brahms violin concertos and new
interpretations of Bach.
Aaron Rosand holds the Starling Chair at the Curtis Institute in
Philadelphia, and lives in Connecticut with his wife, Monica Woo.
He is a remarkable chef, a connoisseur of great cigars and a
bonsai aficionado.
Hugh Sung, piano
Pianist Hugh Sung has been an active soloist and chamber musician
ever
since his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 11. Two
years
later, he was
accepted for studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, where his principal
teachers included Eleanor Sokoloff, Jorge Bolet, and Seymour Lipkin, along
with Karen Tuttle and Felix Galimir for chamber music. Throughout his
studies and subsequent to graduating with a Bachelor of Music, Sung has
performed in major cities throughout the United States, England, Canada,
Central America, South America, Japan, and Korea. Mr. Sung has been
presented at some of the worldıs most prestigious venues, including Carnegie
Hall, Weill Hall, Wigmore Hall, The National Gallery of Art, and The Ravinia
Festival. He has made
several guest appearances at radio stations throughout New York City,
Rochester, Philadelphia, and New Zealand, and was recently featured on NPRıs
nationally
syndicated "Performance Today" performing works by Clementi, Ravel, and
Mussorgksy. His concerto engagements have included performances with the
Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Masterworks
Festival Orchestra and extensive tours with the South Jersey Symphony
Orchestra.
In addition to his solo endeavors, Sung has continued to receive critical
acclaim for his work as an ensemble musician. He has been featured in the
Philadelphia Orchestraıs Chamber Music series, and has also collaborated
with such distinguished groups and artists as The American Quartet, the Diaz
Trio, Jeffrey Khaner, Julius Baker, Hilary Hahn, Leila Josefowicz, composers
Jennifer Higdon, Robert Maggio, Harold Boatrite, and violinist Aaron Rosand,
with whom he has recorded extensively under the Biddulph and Vox labels. His
work can also be heard on the I Virtuosi and CRI labels.
In 1993, Sung joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, and
currently serves
as its Director of Instrumental Accompaniment and its world-renown Student
Recitals Series.
Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)
1 Nocturne and Tarantella Op. 28
(10:12)
Three Myths, Op. 30
2 Fountain of Arethusa
(5:00)
3 Narcissus (6:16)
4 Dryads and Pan (6:29)
5 Romance, Op. 23 (5:26)
6 Chant De Roxane (4:06)
(from the opera "Le Roi
Roger")
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
7 Nocturne in E flat major,
Op. 9, No. 2 (4:30)
(transcribed by Pablo
Sarasate)
8 Nocturne in E minor,
Op. 37, No. 1 (6:19)
(transcribed by A.
Wilhelmj)
9 Nocturne in D major,
Op. 27, No. 2 (5:30)
(transcribed by A.
Wilhelmj)
10 Nocturne in C sharp minor (posthumous)
(4:20)
(transcribed by Nathan
Milstein)
Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880)
11 Capriccio-Valse, Op. 7
(4:49)
12 Saltarelle (Caprice for Violin)
(2:01)
13 Souvenir de Moscou, Op. 6
(8:25)
total time: (73:27)
Producer:
Laura Harth Rodriguez
Engineer:
Francisco X. Rodriguez
Editing and Mastering:
Digital Dynamics Audio Inc.
Graphic Design:
Jim Manly,
Judd Robbins
Recorded on May 11 & 12, 2001
at The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, PA.
