Search - Karol Szymanowski, Frederic Chopin, Henryk Wieniawski :: My Legacy

Indeed a legacy!

teva_man | United States | 05/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Aaron Rosand has always been one for playing nonconventional as well as conventional repertoire. Szymanowski's "Three Myths", op. 15 and "Nocturne and Tarantelle", "Chant de Roxane" occupy the first part of the disc. The first two myths and the Chant are played well - perhaps not the most interesting of interpretations, but not at all displeasing. Rosand does splendid work in the third myth, "Dryades et Pan" and the passages of harmonics make the 'flute of Pan' come alive. The "Nocturne and Tarantelle" is great, too. However, Hugh Sung's piano accompaniment

frequently swamps Rosand. It should be added that the piano accompaniments of Szymanowski are monumentally challenging - only the finest accompanists in the world can play them accurately. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Rosand plays the "ex-Kochanski" Guarnieri violin, the very instrument on which all of these works were premiered, by Szymanowski's close friend and superlative fiddler Paul Kochanski.

Some Chopin Nocturnes follow; these get a nice, warm treatment as well. Thankfully, several violinist-composers (Milstein, Sarasate, Wilhelmj and others) transcribed many of them, so Chopin can be played on the violin too. Three pieces by Wieniawski round out the disc - "Capriccio Valse", "Alla Saltarella", and "Souvenir de Moscou." Wieniawski's polonaises and "Scherzo Tarantelle" and "Legende" are usually the only things of his that are played anymore. Thankfully, Rosand replaced them with these other three much more interesting numbers. The "Souvenir de Moscou" is excellent, with Sung accompanying very well. Great CD. If you don't know Rosand's playing, get to know it with this disc."