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Nathaniel Rosen (violoncello, Brahms, Mendelssohn) began studying the cello at the age of six, and at 13 began studies with Gregor Piatigorsky, who became his teacher and mentor. At 29, in 1978, Mr. Rosen traveled to Russia, where he became the only American cellist ever to win the Tchaikovsky Competition Gold Medal. He served as Artistic Director of the Interlochen Summer Chamber Music Series in 1988-89, is a founding member of the Sitka Summer Music Festival, and was Principal Cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony for two years, and of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for eight years. He has…
ENCORE: The Best of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival STPH011-2
The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Heiichiro Ohyama, Artistic Director, recorded live in concert
Mendelssohn: Sextet in D Major for Violin, Two Violas, Violoncello, Double Bass, and Piano, Op.110 28:03 (inc. applause)
Michelle Kim, violin; Geraldine Walther, viola; Nancy Uscher, viola; Nathaniel Rosen, violoncello; Marji Danilow, double bass; Christopher O'Riley, piano
[1] Introduction 0:43
[2] Allegro vivace 11:27
[3] Adagio 4:34
[4] Menuetto: Agitato 2:20
[5] Allegro vivace 9:02
Sidebar 2: Who Did What, With What, & When They Did It
Encore was recorded at St. Francis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 20, 21, 24, & 25, 1997
Encore was recorded at St. Francis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 20, 21, 24, & 25, 1997
Cover: William Lumpkins, Spanish Village; Lumpkins produced this water color as one of three large works depicting the three predominant cultures of New Mexico when he was a participant in the Public Works of Art Project during the 1930s. All three paintings are in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico. More of these works appear in Treasures on New Mexico Trails by Kathryn A.…
Sidebar 3: Just a Little Echo, Echo, Echo...
Back in my recording-musician days in the '70s, the studio at which I was the house bass player had an AKG reverberation chamber that found its way onto pretty much everything we laid down on tape. Basically a large metal plate with an electromagnetic exciter at one end and a pickup at the other, this produced reverberation with a not unpleasant sonic signature. In conjunction with discrete tape-delay echoes courtesy of a high-speed ReVox A-77, the effect could be tweaked to give quite a lifelike simulation of a concert hall—or at least one…
Back in my recording-musician days in the '70s, the studio at which I was the house bass player had an AKG reverberation chamber that found its way onto pretty much everything we laid down on tape. Basically a large metal plate with an electromagnetic exciter at one end and a pickup at the other, this produced reverberation with a not unpleasant sonic signature. In conjunction with discrete tape-delay echoes courtesy of a high-speed ReVox A-77, the effect could be tweaked to give quite a lifelike simulation of a concert hall—or at least one…
Sidebar 4: The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival . . .
. . . was founded in 1972. During the first season—the summer of 1973—14 artists performed six Sunday concerts in Santa Fe and toured to several New Mexico and eastern Arizona communities. That season, Pablo Casals was the Festival's honorary president, and a 20-year series of Georgia O'Keeffe posters and program covers began. Today, 26 seasons later, the Festival presents over 80 events during its annual summer season—including concerts, adult and youth education/outreach presentations, free open rehearsals, concert previews and…
. . . was founded in 1972. During the first season—the summer of 1973—14 artists performed six Sunday concerts in Santa Fe and toured to several New Mexico and eastern Arizona communities. That season, Pablo Casals was the Festival's honorary president, and a 20-year series of Georgia O'Keeffe posters and program covers began. Today, 26 seasons later, the Festival presents over 80 events during its annual summer season—including concerts, adult and youth education/outreach presentations, free open rehearsals, concert previews and…
Call me sentimental, but I'm sad to see turntables disappear. They were my original calling. Back in 1973 or so, when a kid from my neighborhood insisted that I see his brother-in-law's "fantastic stereo," I was entranced by a huge Pioneer receiver and walnut AR3a speakers. But most alluring by far was the Marantz turntable. Its brushed stainless-steel controls and gleaming, chromed tonearm made it look like some delicate and expensive scientific instrument. Compared to the all-in-one plastic unit I played my Partridge Family records on, the mere sight of it put me on the audiophile path. (…
Scratchers concentrate more on one turntable at a time. As the record plays, they'll use their hands to stop, start, and rock the platter or LP at various speeds, often with one hand on a volume fader to control the sound's attack and envelope. Though I didn't have the best view, it looked as if they also tap and drum on the LP with their fingertips. The result is a loud, rhythmic collage of sounds—called "forwards," "scribbles," "moving scribbles," "chirps," etc.—that grab your spine and rock it back and forth. It's hard to describe, but there's more than just rhythm in this wall of sound.…
Hoping that a fitter turntable will survive, Vestax recently tried to circumvent this problem. Since skating forces arise from offset headshell angles, they're making a 'table with a straight tonearm and headshell—no offset angle. This reduces skating forces and allows tracking weights to be smaller. The price of this, of course, is that the cartridge will no longer be at the optimal tangential angle to the record's grooves—but that's an audiophile thing, not a turntablist thing. Asking a turntablist whether his table is a "high-fidelity" component is as silly as asking a violinist if she…
My friend Harvey Rosenberg, who had more clever ideas in a day than most of us have in a lifetime, was a Tannoy loudspeaker enthusiast. I, on the other hand, had little experience with the brand before 1995, when Harvey invited me to come over and hear his then-new Tannoy Westminster Royals.
I'm not sure what I expected, although I remember I had to be corrected as to Tannoy's origins: Something about the sound of the name had always led me to think, dully, that the brand was Japanese. As it turns out, Tannoy began life in south London in 1926 when its founder, a man with the improbably…
I returned my attention to speaker placement, paying careful attention to the changes, both measured and heard, as I went along. More than anything else, I noticed that small shifts in loudspeaker and microphone position yielded greater measured differences than I'd expected—although the octave between 125Hz and 250Hz was consistently elevated by at least 3dB relative to the rest of the midband, which may have accounted for the dark quality. It was easy to get flat bass response all the way down to 25Hz, although not so easy to do it without bringing a 6dB peak at 31.5Hz along for the ride. I…