"Classical fusion" is the term violinist Elliot Rosoff uses to describe a kind of music-making he has championed for more than a decade. It involves combining acoustical and electronic instruments in performances of classical repertoire. But the term could just as well sum up the man's career as a musician.
Rosoff is classically trained; he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in violin performance at the Manhattan School of Music and worked on a doctorate at Boston University. But his resume lists almost as many Broadway and pop gigs as it does symphonic and chamber music engagements. And his current project is "classical fusion" itself.
With keyboard players Martha Locker and Phil Barr, Rosoff has just recorded and produced "Postcards: The Recital," a CD of works by Brahms, Franck, Gluck, Vivaldi and John Williams, on which his solo violin is set against a Yamaha Motif ES8 synthesizer. He began doing this sort of thing in the early 1990s, when he recorded "Postcards from Bach" with keyboardist Henry Aronson.
For that project, Rosoff and Aronson, who has a slew of credits as an arranger and music director on Broadway and off, dubbed their duo "Postcards." They soon got out a second CD, "Postcards from Vivaldi," which once again set Rosoff's solo violin against a synthesizer accompaniment.
This is an approach, the violinist believes, that preserves the intimacy and spontaneity of classical chamber music while giving it instrumental colors that appeal to contemporary listeners and the power to fill today's gigantic concert halls.
In a way, Rosoff began preparing for his "classical fusion" projects many years before the 1990s. He performed solo and chamber music programs in most of New York's major recital venues: Avery Fisher, Alice Tully, Merkin, Carnegie and Town Halls. And his recordings included such titles as Bartok's "Contrasts" and "Rumanian Dances," Hindemith's "Sonata in E," Bach's "Trio Sonatas" and Pleyel's and Gliere's "Duos."
But he also recorded with hundreds of famous artists such as Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson and Barbara Streisand; he helped lay down movie soundtracks for Philip Glass, Spike Lee and other producer/directors; and he took his place in the orchestra pit for such Broadway shows as "Grand Hotel", "The Red Shoes", "She Loves Me", and "Nick and Nora", often as the production's concertmaster or music coordinator.
Moreover, as if to anticipate his work today on the production side of recordings, he also founded a 24-track recording facility in New York City, Opal Studios, and served as its president through the mid 1980s.
Beyond that, he is the founder of ARC, an organization of New York free-lance musicians who want to build a bridge between scholarly interpretations and modern reinterpretations of classical music. The goal of all these efforts, Rosoff believes, is to communicate the true spirit of classical music in performances informed by contemporary sensibility.
Track List:
1. Theme from Schindler's List
2. Cezar Franck Sonata, First Movement
3. Franck Sonata, Second Movement
4. Franck Sonata, Third Movement
5. Franck Sonata, Fourth Movement
6. Brahms Hungarian Dances #1
7. Brahms Hungarian Dances #2
8. Brahms Hungarian Dances #4
9. Gluck Dance of the Blessed Spirits
10. Vivaldi Concerto in A Minor, 2nd Movement
11. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 1st Movement
12. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 2nd Movement
13. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 3rd Movement
14. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 4th Movement
15. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 5th Movement
Other Genres:
Rosoff is classically trained; he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in violin performance at the Manhattan School of Music and worked on a doctorate at Boston University. But his resume lists almost as many Broadway and pop gigs as it does symphonic and chamber music engagements. And his current project is "classical fusion" itself.
With keyboard players Martha Locker and Phil Barr, Rosoff has just recorded and produced "Postcards: The Recital," a CD of works by Brahms, Franck, Gluck, Vivaldi and John Williams, on which his solo violin is set against a Yamaha Motif ES8 synthesizer. He began doing this sort of thing in the early 1990s, when he recorded "Postcards from Bach" with keyboardist Henry Aronson.
For that project, Rosoff and Aronson, who has a slew of credits as an arranger and music director on Broadway and off, dubbed their duo "Postcards." They soon got out a second CD, "Postcards from Vivaldi," which once again set Rosoff's solo violin against a synthesizer accompaniment.
This is an approach, the violinist believes, that preserves the intimacy and spontaneity of classical chamber music while giving it instrumental colors that appeal to contemporary listeners and the power to fill today's gigantic concert halls.
In a way, Rosoff began preparing for his "classical fusion" projects many years before the 1990s. He performed solo and chamber music programs in most of New York's major recital venues: Avery Fisher, Alice Tully, Merkin, Carnegie and Town Halls. And his recordings included such titles as Bartok's "Contrasts" and "Rumanian Dances," Hindemith's "Sonata in E," Bach's "Trio Sonatas" and Pleyel's and Gliere's "Duos."
But he also recorded with hundreds of famous artists such as Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson and Barbara Streisand; he helped lay down movie soundtracks for Philip Glass, Spike Lee and other producer/directors; and he took his place in the orchestra pit for such Broadway shows as "Grand Hotel", "The Red Shoes", "She Loves Me", and "Nick and Nora", often as the production's concertmaster or music coordinator.
Moreover, as if to anticipate his work today on the production side of recordings, he also founded a 24-track recording facility in New York City, Opal Studios, and served as its president through the mid 1980s.
Beyond that, he is the founder of ARC, an organization of New York free-lance musicians who want to build a bridge between scholarly interpretations and modern reinterpretations of classical music. The goal of all these efforts, Rosoff believes, is to communicate the true spirit of classical music in performances informed by contemporary sensibility.
Track List:
1. Theme from Schindler's List
2. Cezar Franck Sonata, First Movement
3. Franck Sonata, Second Movement
4. Franck Sonata, Third Movement
5. Franck Sonata, Fourth Movement
6. Brahms Hungarian Dances #1
7. Brahms Hungarian Dances #2
8. Brahms Hungarian Dances #4
9. Gluck Dance of the Blessed Spirits
10. Vivaldi Concerto in A Minor, 2nd Movement
11. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 1st Movement
12. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 2nd Movement
13. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 3rd Movement
14. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 4th Movement
15. Vivaldi Sonata in A, 5th Movement
Other Genres: