American pianist Jerome
Rose has a sizeable body of recordings
to his credit on Medici and Monarch
Classics, some of which derive from
older sessions but some, like this one,
recently recorded. He majors, on disc
at least, in the Romantics and the latest
of his recordings to come my way is
this triptych of Lisztian fireworks
– just under an hour’s worth of powerhouse
virtuosity.
The fact that the ground
has been trod many times before doesn’t
lessen the attempt. And Rose is – no
mistake – a pianist of fearsome accomplishment
and absorption. His armoury is finely
stocked and whilst not imperious it
bears all the slings and arrows of Lisztian
assault with a certain degree of sanguinity,
if not necessarily serenity. That said,
there were moments in the Sonata, for
example, when the tension is not ratcheted
quite tightly enough, moments when (arguably)
he uses a touch too much pedal. There
are times too when a sense of anticipation
is very slightly missing and when the
climaxes don’t register with the weight
they ideally might. Maybe, at points,
his tone isn’t as "rich" as
others – though this may well be a result
of the recording, which is unsympathetically
resonant and can spread too much. Against
all the above I should also add that
much here is superbly good, from the
phrasing, to the sense of struggle,
and the sheer digital accomplishment
of the thing.
To follow the sonata
with the Don Juan Fantasy is to risk
a daemonic, Simon Barere-like curve
of music-making. And yet here Rose goes.
So let’s chance a comparison with that
arch-Lisztian Barere whose last, 1951
recording of Don Juan is now available
on Cembal d’amour. Compared with the
leonine intensity of Barere or the only-slightly-less
dynamism of Grigory Ginzburg (live 1957)
Rose takes a rather more equable line.
He’s rather slower than either of these
titans and doesn’t enact their peremptory
insistence or tonal gradations. Similarly
both Barere and Ginzburg build tension
through not just speed increase but
through accenting and tonal shading
and colouration. If Rose is not their
equal in these matters it is hardly
surprising. Again his slightly "cathedral"
acoustic somewhat blunts the impact
of the playing, something that applies
also to the Mephisto Waltz that closes
the disc. Here Rose is on suitably engaged
form, fiery and dramatic, and articulate.
It’s a good way to
end this recital, one that is marked
by powerful understanding and decisive
panache. Rose’s admirers will find it
rewarding.
Jonathan Woolf
Jerome Rose (piano) 
