elfenworks CD Project: Aaron Rosand in Norway [clips] [buy it]

Winner Best Classical Concerto Album - 2006 JPF Music Awards [read more]

"Every now and then a release comes along that reminds you what a superb violinist Aaron Rosand is,
and this is one of them. All these performances are so good that if you only had them and no other
recordings of the works, you wouldn't be missing much.    --American Record Guide

"One feels in the presence of a master... Rosand soars aloft with skin-tingling
emotional potency... highly recommended."    --The Strad

This two-cd set, featuring virtuoso violinist (and long-time elfenworks client) Aaron Rosand and distributed by VAI Music, is now available through retail outlets, worldwide and at online vendors including Amazon.com.

Recorded during Rosand's tours of Norway with orchestral and piano accompaniment, this 2 CD set features Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, Saint-Saëns' Havanaise and Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso as well as Klaus Egge's Violin Concerto, and Christian Sinding's Suite in A Minor. Also included are Tchaikovsky's Sérénade Mélancholique; Sibelius's Humoresque, Op. 87, Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen and Ole Bull's Saeterjentens Sondag.

Over the course of several years, elfenworks acted as a liaison, negotiating with the Norwegian Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Norwegian Radio Orchestra for the rights to release this extraordinary recording. We acted as executive producer, overseeing the remastering of the CDs and procuring a distributor for the release. We also worked on behalf of the distributor to ensure that descriptive information and artwork were posted at Amazon.com, and we are involved with ongoing efforts to spread the word about this recording on behalf of our client.

Strad Magazine 'Concerto Selection' - October 2005

"One of the true aristocrats of the modern violin, Aaron Rosand is captured here in his mid-to-late 1970s peak via Norwegian Radio recordings of outstanding quality of their period. Listening to these bracing live performances one feels in the presence of a master whose tonal purity and ringing intonation is worthy of comparison with the likes of Milstein and Ferras, and whose subtle use of portamento is very much in the Rabin and Perlman class.
      "For sheer poise and technical sophistication his Havanaise deserves a place alongside Szeryng's 1969 classic (Phillips), while his Lalo Symphonie espagnole (the full five-movement version) passionately glitters and swaggers in a way to rival even the adrenalin-saturated Stern-Ormandy barnstormer from the mid-1960s (Sony). Rosand soars aloft in the indelible second theme of the third movement with skin-tingling emotional potency.
      "An added inducement to purchase is provided by Klaus Egge's full-scale, post-Romantic Violin Concerto. Anyone who enjoys the Walton, Barber or Nielsen concertos should find this fine work's combination of flowing lyricism and pyrotechnical brilliance particularly congenial. In his accompanying notes, Rosand explains that he spent much of 1974 learning it at his Italian home, and the electrifying result can be savoured here.
      "As part of the same 1975 series of concerts, Rosand gave some recitals with Robert Levin, but sadly Ole Bull's ravishing Seterjentsens Sontag is all that remains. His Zigeunerweisen may not possess the machine-gun precision of some studio accounts, but the palpable sense of a live occasion unfolding more than compensates. This is highly recommended."   --Julian Haylock, The Strad, October 2005

American Record Guide Review

"These performances, some of them taken from concerts and some from broadcasts, date from 1974 to 1980. They capture Aaron Rosand in his prime recorded in fine sound with good orchestras and sensitive conductors. Every now and then a release comes along that reminds you what a superb violinist Aaron Rosand is, and this is one of them. All these performances are so good that if you only had them and no other recordings of the works, you wouldn't be missing much. Rosand supplies all the tonal richness, nuance, and stylistic sensitivity that these works need. I'd say the only dog in the lot is the Violin Concerto by Klaus Egge, and not because of Rosand's performance. The music just isn't interesting. Everything else, though, is wonderful."    --Magil, American Record Guide, July/August 2005