Violin Playing - What Matters Most

Written By Julian Ross

It’s all about beautiful sound, really.

This, my first post here, and most everything else about violin artistry that matters to me, is about beautiful sound. If it were not for the uniquely sumptuous, dazzlingly tender, endlessly complex tone a violin can produce, most any music a violin can play could more easily be reproduced artificially. But no other sound will ever equal the poignancy of Toscha Seidel’s recording of the Garden Scene from Korngold, Much Ado About Nothing, the sheer ravishing, pulsing luster of Kreisler’s double stops in Caprice Viennois, or the heartrending passion in Heifetz’s Sibelius Concerto second movement.

I remember exactly when my own passion for the sound of the violin was ignited. I wonder if others have experienced a similar, specific moment in their lives?

In 1973, while sitting shiva after the loss of our very dear grandfather, Julius Razovsky, our grandmother told me and my brother that, some time before, they had purchased tickets for us to hear a violinist playing with the St. Louis Symphony. The concert was that same evening. Even though out of the ordinary during shiva, our grandmother and parents insisted that we go. I had been taking violin lessons, and they wanted me to get to hear it. They felt it was something special.

My brother, Maurice, didn’t really want to go, and I don’t think I felt like it, either. But our family firmly insisted. So, we went. My brother drove us (I wasn’t old enough) and we somehow found ourselves sitting in some front row balcony seats. (By the way, my brother, Maurice, now a successful attorney, was and is a spectacularly talented musician – he’s genuinely gifted.)

I have no memory of what was first on the concert program, or what was after the intermission. What I remember, most vividly, was a charismatic violinist coming on stage, sitting down and being handed a violin. It was Itzhak Perlman. I’m sure they must have  tuned, and I’m sure the orchestra played the short introduction. But I don’t remember that. What I will never forget is the radiant, brilliant, sound, like ringing sunlight, of Perlman playing the opening to Lalo, Symphonie Espagnole. And then he played high on the G string with such soaring intensity, and then he sang on the A string with a tenderness that I had never dreamed could exist. That moment and that sound still reverberates in my mind. The most beautiful sound I had ever heard. I have longed for and sought to recreate it, ever since.

Contact Julian Ross

Julian Ross

Julian Ross, www.julianrossviolin.com, is an uncommonly versatile artist. He is an active and committed performer and teacher with a career that has spanned over four decades. Ross has appeared as soloist with orchestras and wind ensembles in performances ranging from Baroque and Romantic concerti to premieres of newly commissioned works. His chamber music collaborations have kindled insightful interpretations of traditional and new repertoire, championed neglected works by underrepresented composers, and programmed forgotten gems such as those by Amanda Maier, Ethel Smyth, and Jazz great, Joe Venuti. As member of Baldwin Wallace Conservatory’s resident ensembles, the Elysian Trio and Lyceum2, Ross performed over 125 varied programs. For 18 years, Ross served as concertmaster for the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, in collaboration with Maestro Dwight Oltman. Ross has toured the U.S. and abroad with the Arcadia Trio, the Boston Musical Arts Consortium, the Music from Yellow Barn Tours, and the Memphis Piano Quartet. He was honored to appear as soloist, recitalist, and lecturer for the “Violins of Hope” exhibition in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ross has had opportunities to perform numerous solo and chamber works under the supervision of their composers. Among these are compositions by Don Freund, Stefan Freund, William Bolcom, John Cage, Chen Yi, John Harbison, Krzysztof Penderecki, Robert Patterson, Philip Glass, Loris Chobanian, John Corigliano, Joseph Schwantner, Christopher Theofanidis, and Charles Wuorinen. In addition, Ross’s own original compositions and arrangements have been received warmly by audiences and his pedagogic materials are increasingly being adopted by teachers.

A devoted teacher, Ross has composed etudes addressing tenacious violinistic problems (Four Knotty Violin Studies), a melodically reinforced approach to scale studies (Connecting Some Dots), and a systematic approach to beginning scales (Right from the Start). Through four decades of performing and teaching chamber music, he has gained unique expertise in teamwork, problem solving, and communication which he enjoys sharing with students and audiences. He served as Professor of Violin and Chair of the String Department at Baldwin Wallace University for 26 years. Other faculty appointments included Memphis State University and Florida State University. Ross participated in the Yellow Barn Festival for 11 years, and was on the faculties of Brevard, Aria International, Tennessee Governor’s School, and the Blue Mountain Festival. Ross’s students have won competitions, earned leadership positions in professional orchestras, and established themselves on teaching faculties at high schools and universities. Ross is a past President of the Tennessee String Teachers’ Association. He earned degrees from Rutgers University, the Eastman School of Music, and the Cincinnati College Conservatory, and he did additional studies at the New England Conservatory. His teachers and mentors have included Arnold Steinhardt, Sylvia Rosenberg, Eric Rosenblith, Jens Ellermann, Fryderyk Sadowski, Gladys Lang, and Isadore Grossman.

https://julianrossviolin.com