Max Rostal

Max Rostal (7 July 1905 – 6 August 1991) was a violinist and a viola player. He was Austrian-born, but later took British citizenship.

He was born in Cieszyn^[1] and studied with Carl Flesch. From 1930-33 he taught at the Berlin Hochschule, from 1944 to 1958 at the Guildhall School of Music, and then at the Musikhochschule Köln (1957-82) and the Conservatory in Bern (1957-85). His pupils included Yfrah Neaman, Igor Ozim, Edith Peinemann, and members of the Amadeus Quartet. He died in Bern.

Rostal played a wide variety of music, but was a particular champion of contemporary works such as Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2. He made a number of recordings.

His list of works premiered, and dedicated to him included Alan Bush's Violin Concerto of 1946-8 (premiered in 1949).^[2] He also was the dedicatee of Benjamin Frankel's 1942 first solo violin sonata^[3], and he also made the premiere recording.

He played in a piano trio with Heinz Schröter (piano) and Gaspar Cassadó (cello) who was replaced in 1967 by Siegfried Palm.^[4]

He edited a number of works for Schott Music, and produced piano reductions as well. ^[5]

Discography

• Benjamin Frankel: Sonata No. 1 for solo violin, Op. 13 (1942) on Decca K 1178 ^[6]
• Frederick Delius: Violin sonata No. 2, Sir Edward Elgar: Violin Sonata, and Sir William Walton: Violin Sonata (1954 recordings, released 1955-7 on LP on Westminster), reissued on the Testament UK label, SBT1319 (2003). ^{[7] [8]}
• Violin concertos by Béla Bartók (No. 2), Alban Berg, Bernard Stevens, and Dmitri Shostakovich (No. 1) recorded between 1948 and 1962, released on CD on Symposium Records, UK ^[9]
• Franz Schubert: Fantasie in C major, D.934, Robert Schumann: Sonata A minor, Op. 105, Claude Debussy: Sonata, Igor Stravinsky: Duo Concertant, Symposium Records, UK
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata in E minor (arranged by Howard Ferguson), Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Passacaglia, Giuseppe Tartini: Concerto in G minor, Sonata The Devil's Trill, Ludwig van Beethoven: Romances No. 1 and 2, Symposium Records, UK
• Franz Schubert: Sonatina, Op. 137, No. 1-3, Rondo in B minor, Op. 70, D. 895, Sonata in A major, Op. 162, D. 574, Symposium Records, UK

Media

• European Archive Copyright free LP recording of Beethoven's Kreutzer sonata by Max Rostal (violin) and Franz Osborn (piano) at the European Archive (for non-American viewers only).

Bibliography

Books

• Rostal, Max; Horace and Anna Rosenberg, translators, Foreword by the Amadeus Quartet. With a Pianist's Postscript by Günter Ludwig and a History of Performance Practice by Paul Rolland (1985). Beethoven: The Sonatas for Piano and Violin: thoughts on their interpretation. London: Toccata Press. ISBN 0-907689-06-X. 
• Rostal, Max, Ludwig van Beethoven: Die Sonaten für Violine und Klavier, Gedanken zu ihrer Interpretation, Mit einem Nachtrag aus pianistischer Sicht von Günter Ludwig, R.Piper & Co. Verlag, München, 1981
• Rostal, Max, Handbuch zum Geigenspiel, unter Mitarbeit von Berta Volmer, Musikverlag Müller & Schade, Bern, 1993
• Rostal, Max, Violin - Schlüssel - Erlebnisse, Erinnerungen, Mit einem autobiografischen Text von Leo Rostal, Ries & Erler, Berlin, 2007

Editions

• Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Passacaglia für Violine allein, London 1951, Bern 1984
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonaten und Partiten, Leipzig 1982
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violinkonzert KV 218, Mainz 1967
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violinkonzert KV 219, Mainz 1961
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Adagio KV 261, Mainz 1964
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Rondo KV 373, Mainz 1975
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonaten, München 1978
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Romanzen Nr. 1 and 2, Mainz
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Violinkonzert, Mainz 1971
• Franz Schubert: Rondo A-dur, Mainz 1964
• Peter Tschaikowsky: Konzert für Violine und Orchester, Mainz 1973
• Carl Maria von Weber: Rondo Brillant op. 62, Berlin 1930/1985
• Carl Flesch: Das Skalensystem, Berlin 1987
• Jacob Dont: Etüden und Capricen op. 35, Mainz 1971
• Pierre Rode: 24 Capricen, Mainz 1974
• Henryk Wieniawski: L'École moderne op. 10, Bern 1991

Compositions

• Max Rostal: Studie in Quinten, für Violine mit Klavierbegleitung, 1955
• Max Rostal: Studie in Quarten, für Violine mit Klavierbegleitung, 1957

References

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