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Several musical recordings are presented.
Leonard Rose: Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B-Minor, Op. 104; Saint-Saēns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A-Minor, Op. 33; Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations for Cello & Orchestra, Op. 33; Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 5 in D-Major, Op. 102, No. 2; Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A-Major, Op. 69; Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 1 in E-Minor, Op. 38; Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A-Major, Op. 69, III (encore). ORTF/Dutoit in Dvořák; Radio Luxembourg Orchestra/de Froment in Saint-Saēns and Tchaikovsky; pianists Eugene Istomin and Nadia Reisenberg in sonatas. DOREMI DHR-8038/9 (2 CDs).
The Canadian label DOREMI has passed through a rough patch following the cataclysmic 2016 collapse of the large distributor for independent labels, Allegro Media Group, headquartered in Portland, Oregon. After some two decades of fine service to smaller independent labels, Allegro began failing to pay its customer labels in timely fashion, if at all, becoming overextended and deep in debt, resulting in an attempted "private liquidation" culminating in litigation. Allegro had been a leading distributor of smaller independent music labels, whose plight at losing their means of US distribution was exacerbated by the fact that Allegro and the labels had been operating largely on a consignment basis. This meant that as the distributor gradually ceased doing business, its strung-out customer labels found themselves both out unpaid sales proceeds for sold product and out their unsold inventory that had been sent out by Allegro on consignment. The consequent losses no doubt put an end to a good many smaller labels, many of which operated on narrow profit margins in the first place. Fortunately DOREMI is a survivor, now having a new distribution arrangement through Naxos.
New DOREMI releases are starting to appear again, and the 2016 release under review bodes well for the future. Viewed in retrospect with increasing clarity American cellist Leonard Rose (1918-1984) has emerged as one of the small handful of the greatest cellists of the twentieth century, playing with a rare perfection of large, unforced tone, outstandingly pure intonation, and flawless technique, but also including a musical sensitivity of the first order. There has always been a special resplendence to the Rose cello tone, and this most welcome collection of live recordings confirms his stature over and over.
Rose was born of Eastern European immigrant parents in Washington, DC, and raised in Miami. As a teenager he studied in Miami and then with his first cousin, cellist Frank Miller, a very fine cellist who was Toscanini's first cellist in the NBC Symphony and who can be heard playing beautifully on a number of recordings. Rose attended Curtis Institute, studying with Felix Salmond, whom he later credited for his cultivation of a beautiful tone, but not for strong technical training. Rose downplayed the emphasis on his excellent Amati cello for his sound, correctly attributing it more to his technique and the mental image formed in his head of what great cello playing should sound like, established by his teachers.1 Perhaps unusually for a first rank cellist and pedagogue of the twentieth century, he did not count among his teachers Feuermann, Casals, or Piatigorsky.
While a student at Curtis, Rose turned down offers from Stokowski to play in the Philadelphia Orchestra, from Rodzinski to play in the Cleveland Orchestra (assistant principal cellist), and Efrem Zimbalist to play in the Chicago Symphony (principal cellist), remaining to complete his studies. Upon graduation he accepted a position in the last row of the cello section of the NBC Symphony under Toscanini. After one season (1938-1939), he was lured away to become principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra under Rodzinski. When Rodzinski succeeded Barbirolli as conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1943, Rose became assistant principal of that orchestra, becoming principal the next year upon the departure of first chair Joseph Schuster. Rose left orchestral positions behind to pursue a career as a soloist in 1951, having become a cello teacher at Juilliard in 1948 and simultaneously at Curtis starting in 1951. He also taught at Meadowmount, the school run by Ivan Galamian. He became one of the most soughtafter cello teachers, and his teaching continued until his death from leukemia in 1984 at the age of only 66. His large group of successful students included Lynn Harrell, Fred Sherry, Myung-Wha Chung, Stephen Kates, YoYo Ma, and briefly, Matt Haimowitz.
We can know Rose's playing from a series of outstanding Columbia recordings made available on CD by Sony, but his discography, while covering most of the basics of the cello repertoire, is not particularly large. A good many of his commercial recordings are as cellist in chamber music recordings, including those where he appeared as part of a famous trio with violinist Isaac Stern and pianist Eugene Istomin, and at least on recordings, Istomin tends to appear as Rose's sonata partner. We do not have much opportunity to hear him partnered with other musicians of his era, and there have been hardly any live recordings of his playing that have been widely available.
Istomin appears as sonata partner on this DOREMI release for one live performance, Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 5, recorded live in 1969 at the Stratford Summer Festival in Canada. This was the same year that Rose and Istomin committed this Sonata and Beethoven Sonata No. 3 to disc for Columbia Records in New York, but these studio recordings were not released until they appeared on a CBS Records-Masterworks CD in 1987 (prior to Sony's acquisition of the Columbia catalog). This live Canadian version is recorded in somewhat closer perspective than the studio one, and being live, it has a touch more urgency and excitement, including a finely played fugal third movement, one of the rare fugues to appear in a Beethoven sonata. As with all of the live recordings in this set, there is no perceptible difference in the calibre of Rose's playing compared to that heard in his studio recordings - the level of perfection of his playing is exactly the same.
All of the live performances in this set are exemplary, but one of its most exciting features is the opportunity to hear Rose in a pair of live sonata performances partnered with the radiant playing of Nadia Reisenberg, in a live event for WQXR's The Listening Room in January 1973, hosted by Reisenberg's son, Robert Sherman. We are treated to a dashingly brilliant performance of Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 3 (with the third movement encored, included in this set) and a trenchant reading of Brahms Cello Sonata No. 1, which yields as complete a performance as we could hope for, on every level. The rather up-close studio sound is no impediment to enjoyment of these splendid recordings. As usual, Reisenberg offers nothing short of model playing as both pianist and sonata partner - she seems incapable of a false move. Her mastery of the keyboard is beyond doubt, with the strength of her playing always tempered by a rare sensitivity to her partner and an extremely expressive approach to the music. Readers will take note of prior reviews of live recordings of her that have appeared on the Roméo label (see ARSC Journal, 2016;47[2]:295-296; 2017;48[1]:119-120). Rose is in top form, as he always seems to have been in recordings that we can hear of him, and their musical partnership results in balanced performances of pure joy.
These sonata performances occupy the second disc, and the orchestral pieces on the first disc are no less impressive, apparently coming from European radio archives. Rose's playing in the 1967 live Dvořák Cello Concerto is as good as it gets - there are not enough superlatives to describe it. We rarely hear this familiar concerto intoned with such glorious sound from the soloist, yet everything else is well in hand as well, musically and technically. In short, the tonal splendor is never at the expense of musical values or excitement, and it is hard to think of a better performance of this often-recorded concerto. The orchestral support from the ORTF is first-class, and recently disgraced conductor Charles Dutoit leads a fine performance, more alert and likeable than many of his rather overrated commercial recordings with the Montreal Symphony from subsequent decades. The stereo sound is lifelike and vivid, completely belying its age, although I found a small bass cut with the tone controls helpful.
The remaining two large pieces, Saint-Saēns' Cello Concerto No. 1 and Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations for Cello and Orchestra maintain the same level of excitement and excellence, both splendidly played by Rose, who dispatches the technical hurdles of these showpieces with unruffled beauty and nonchalance. Both are recorded live with the Radio Luxembourg Orchestra in November 1961, expertly conducted by its resident conductor, Louis de Fremont. Though the sound is mono, it is excellent, with plenty of bloom on the sound. The soloist is placed rather forward but this does not detract. In all, this set presents treasurable performances in fine sound. It is very highly recommended. Reviewed by John H. Haley
Endnote:
1. Janofa, "Leonard Rose Remembered." http:// www.cello.org/Newsletters/Articles/rose/rose. htm (accessed March 1, 2018). This excellent article is based largely on interviews by the author with Rose's daughter, Barbara Rose Schirota.
Copyright Association for Recorded Sound Spring 2018