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I’ve called Rose a
formidable pianist in another review
– of his Chopin, of which performances
I find myself, at best, ambivalent.
Here I think we find rather more the
core of his musico-philosophical self
in performances of compelling authority.
The last Beethoven sonatas demand colossal
understanding, much less technique,
and the breadth and wisdom to attempt
to encompass their Shakespearean variousness.
If I say I find his
playing more akin to Serkin and Pollini
than to, say, Schnabel and Solomon in
this repertoire this has more to do
with arm weight and colour and texture
than necessarily matters of tempo. The
mention of Serkin is significant, because
Rose studied with him and he has derived
from that experience, I think, a clarity,
a precision and a watchmaker’s eye for
minutiae that add up to performances
of the utmost logic and control. This
is not, lest you infer it, that they
lack passion or feeling – but the passion
and feeling are not paraded, they are
hard won. It’s also not true to say
that he is without idiosyncrasy. There
are a number of occasions where you
may feel like rejecting certain pointing,
accenting or the like – I have some
problems with the opening movement of
Op.109 for instance. And there are one
or two problems with the recording as
well, though nothing like the problems
that afflicted the earlier and undated
Chopin disc. If you listen to the Allegro
molto second movement of Op.110 you’ll
find that there’s a touch of overload
and that the climaxes aren’t really
contained – the effect can be clangy
and the result is spread.
Nevertheless patience
and toleration will be rewarded. The
chordal depth in the finale of Op.109
is powerful but never volcanic; textures
remain clear and aerated; dynamic variations
are not extreme. One can hear his superior
sense of colouration in the opening
of Op.110 and in its finale one can
appreciate his long-term structural
command; there’s a strong sense of expressive
control, not unlike Serkin’s own but
perhaps with a greater degree of timbral
warmth. The Arietta of Op.111 is convincingly
sustained; Rose may favour a certain
spartan reserve at moments but he is
never unfeeling. There’s also plenty
of dash here, considerable animation
and awareness of the visceral pungency
of much of the writing.
In short these are
consistently elevated traversals, strong
on structural command, powerful of utterance.
They may not win over all listeners
but their integrity and seriousness
are never in doubt.
Jonathan Woolf
Jerome Rose (piano) 
