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Indeed Beethoven's revolutionary sonata became a metaphor for Rosand's incredible ability to make the listener hear new elements in every score he plays. In the Kreutzer, Rosand brought finely chiseled classical breadth to the music without shortchanging the score's bold dissonances and harmonic leaps. The opening chords of the Adagio Sostenuto were finely poised and imbued with spacious eloquence. Rosand's rapid fire articulation of the Presto made the listener believe in the impossible. At a fierce tempo, Rosand placed every note and chord perfectly. And what elegance and honeyed tonal sheen Rosand brought to the contrasting second subject -- the very essence of aristocratic string playing! The imaginative, strongly musical character that Rosand brought to each of the variations in the Andante con Variazioni were the work of a 'thinking man's musician'. The sheer vigor and joyous élan in the Finale Presto were exhilarating. Rosand's formal rigor, deeply probing intellect, and glorious tone produced a great Beethoven performance! This was a Kreutzer of which legends are made!

Rosand's soaring tone and elasticity of phrase made Mozart's beautiful Adagio K261 (an alternative slow movement for the composer's fifth Violin Concerto -- the Turkish) a celestial, glowing melodic gem. The rousing vivacity and classical finesse that Rosand imparted to the Rondo K373 (like the Adagio, composed for the Italian virtuoso Antonio Brunetti) had an otherworldly glow. Beautiful playing of rare classical style and elegance! In the Beethoven and Mozart his pianistic partner Robert Koenig brought patrician musicianship and sparkle to every bar of these great works. Koenig has that uncanny ability to phrase and breathe as one with Rosand's every musical nuance. With a stellar technique and a true collaborative pulse, Koenig is the perfect chamber music artist!

The entire concert was dedicated to the memory of the late Miami Herald music critic James Roos. Rosand opened the program with Johann Sebastian Bach's Adagio in G minor (for unaccompanied violin) -- a truly spiritual experience. Rosand's soaring arc of sound and pristine, classical phrasing made the celestial beauty of this heavenly music soar. His dedication of this Bach performance to Roos's memory was wonderfully appropriate. A beautiful performance of divinely inspired music!

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