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Romantics without Passion New York
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center
07/07/2025 -
Ludwig van Beethoven:Piano Sonata No. 13, “Pathétique”, Op. 13
Robert Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12
Franz Liszt: Three Petrarch Sonnets from Années de pèlerinage (Deuxième Année : Italie: Sonnets 47, 104 & 123
Jerome Rose (Pianist) 
J. Rose at Merkin Hall (© Giselle de la Katz)
“I soar in the heavens, but lie upon the ground; I hold nothing, though I embrace the whole world.”
Translation from Petrarch’s Sonnet 104
Jerome Rose has a history about which younger pianists can only dream. A teacher in dozens of international conservatories, author of a four‑volume study on virtuosity, soloist with all the great orchestras of our time, and a prize‑winning recording artist, Mr. Rose singles out summer for a singular event.
Some 27 years ago, he created and today directs the International Keyboard Institute & Festival. His choice of pianists is a personal one, selecting the famed and yet‑to‑be famous. At times–like last night–he encored in four‑handed Schubert, with the artist featured tonight (July 8), Llewellyn Sánchez‑Werner, in the most satisfying single of the evening.
Whether it was the dynamic Mr. Sánchez‑Werner on the treble side, or simply a duo matched for excitement, this was a work which finally brought the audience to its feet. Though the first encore. Chopin’s Second Ballade was played by Mr. Rose with the feeling he ignored for the regular program.
One loathes writing this about such a distinguished artist, but Mr. Rose played the other Romantic composers with his usually deft fingers. His mind seemed to be somewhere else.
He is a fabulous technician. In those difficult (and always unexpected) firework passages in Beethoven’s “Pathétique”, his fluidity was unparalleled. In the second of Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces, he alternated cantabile lyrics with incisive marches. In the composer’s “Restless Dreams,” he allowed himself the nightmares with which the (soon to be crazy) composer felt at home.
Yet something was wrong. The first movement of the Beethoven was played by rote, and that so luscious Adagio cantabile was rushed along. The notes were right, the singing became a chant.
The Schumann, yes, had its ferocious moments. But “In the Night” was played in the radiant sunshine. Technically fine, emotionally empty.
Mr. Rose has the sobriquet “the last of the Romantics,” but this is obviously nonsense. Any great young pianist today–from Yuja Wang to Daniil Trifonov–plays as romantically as the music calls for. The other “lasts”, like Horowitz or Cherkassky, can be eccentric, unexpected. But when called for, they can be as passionate as the notes of the passionate mid‑19th Century composers called for.
F. Liszt/F. Petrarch
Thus, the three Petrarch Sonnets, the second half, called for something more than etude‑style measures. The secret is not the wonderful sonnets of Petrarch–who the late writer Paul Oppenheimer called “the first humanist.” Nor the ardent love interest for whom Liszt wrote these pieces. Rather, the key (or keys) were the rarely played Petrarch songs from which Liszt enlarged the solo piano pieces.
Those songs make their appearance here–as gorgeous as Schubert Lieder. Nor did Liszt stint on clouds, sun, rain, rainbows surrounding these songs. Alas, Mr. Rose was not up to these inner emotions, these nuances.
The Chopin-like cadenza in the first sonnet was handled brilliantly, but the other two were played with straightforward (and frankly un‑romantic) stolidity.
No doubt Jerome Rose deserves his accolades from years past. Last night, he might have re‑lived his fame. Yet the passion, the tenderness, that ineffable inner spirit seemed far in the past.
Harry Rolnick
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