Probably most music
lovers, on encountering the name Louis
Kaufman, will respond "Who?"
Ironically, while probably many people
have never head of him, they
have all heard him. Any person
who has ever seen "Gone with the
Wind", "Snow White",
"Sunset Boulevard", "Ben
Hur", or "Captain from Castile"
— and this must surely include at least
80% of the world’s population — has
heard him play. Classical music lovers
of my generation remember their first
recording of Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons"
featured Louis Kaufman as soloist and,
if you’re like me, you still have that
record because in some ways it’s the
finest ever done.* This historic 1947
recording won the Grand Prix De Disque
1950, and in 2002 was inducted into
The "Grammy" Hall of Fame.
To me, the pinnacle
of his recorded output is the Torelli
complete (12) Opus 8 Concerti for one
and two violins and orchestra on two
monophonic L’Oiseau-Lyre LPs, recorded
in Paris in 1954 with Georges Alès
and Rugg[i]ero Gerlin; Kaufman played
solo and conducted the orchestra and
to my mind created a model of musical
passion mixed with original instrument
authenticity that still stands as a
standard of comparison.** A number of
currently active artists must agree
with me because newer recordings seem
to come closer to matching that standard
than was true for many decades. So Louis
Kaufman, already, due to his work in
film music, the most recorded and most
widely heard violinist who ever lived,
may soon as well be honoured as one
of the most influential Baroque period
musical scholars of the 20th century.
He was born in Portland,
Oregon, but his parents were Rumanian
Jews, from a remarkable beneficent culture.
The elder Kaufman attended the Catholic
school in Buzaû, and when his
grandmother was severely burned in a
fire, the Catholic neighbours took her
in and nursed her. The adventuresome
flight to the USA involved breaking
out at gunpoint of a military camp where
the elder Kaufman had been signed on
for 20 years. After Louis was 10, the
Kaufmans all moved back to Rumania for
a number of years before finally returning
to Portland for good. During those years
in Rumania Louis had much time to become
acquainted with the native musical traditions.
On the advice of his
local teachers in Oregon, Louis moved
to New York to live with cousins and
uncles and studied at the Institute
of Musical Art with Franz Kneisl (also
Rumanian), a severe but loving teacher
who spent Summers in Bad Ischl with
Brahms. Kneisl told him, "No matter
how well you play, if people don’t like
you you’ll have no career." Upon
the death of Kneisl, Kaufman had exactly
three lessons with Leopold Auer before
a clash of wills ended the friendship
and the lessons. Louis thought his goose
was really cooked when Auer ended up
on the graduation examination board!
But his mother had come for the ceremony,
sat right next to the judging booth,
and she heard the discussions among
the judges; when the chairman said to
Auer, "Should we give him 90 or
100?" Auer said, "Give him
150!" So Louis’ career got off
to a good start with a Cum Laud artist’s
diploma.
This summarises the
story only up to page 50. The book continues
for more than 300 pages to recount years
of making music with fellow students
like Richard Rodgers, Clara Rockmore,
and André Kostelanetz and legends
like Casals, Kreisler, and Elman.
Having conquered the
east coast musical world, then Louis
moved to the west coast to become intimate
with the west coast musical émigré
community, and found his life work in
the film music industry, performing
in over 500 film sound tracks between
1934 and 1965. At his suggestion the
first Vivaldi Festival in America was
held in New York's Town Hall in Spring
of 1951. Throughout his career he maintained
an interest in the work of contemporary
composers, especially the work of young
Americans, playing and recording works
by Aaron Copland, Quincy Porter, Ernest
Bloch, William Grant Still, Robert Russell
Bennett, Robert McBride, Everett Helm,
Charles Jones, Gail Kubik, and Charles
Ives.
Many, many musicians
walk through these pages and Kaufman
records his exchanges with them charitably
and without rancour, even though some
are not seen in the best light. With
great delight does he recount his interactions
with those whose humanity, charity,
and professionalism he could admire,
and there are many of these. It is amazing
that any one person could possibly do
all these things and be at all these
places; Kaufman must have been a person
of astonishing energy and endurance.
He speaks of recording sessions at the
studios that begin at 8AM. Union rules
require that the orchestra be sent home
at midnight, but he is asked to remain
to record solos, and be back
again at 8AM to begin another full day
of work.
The CD concentrates
on recordings not otherwise available
and which figured in some way in the
incidents related in the book. In my
opinion a few of these selections do
not do the artist full justice. The
performance of Havanaise is intelligent
and articulate, but it lacks the sense
of lush, sensual melody that some violinists
bring to this work. The Vivaldi is one
of the less interesting Baroque works
he recorded, although it was one of
Kaufman’s favourites and figured in
a bewildering exchange with the CBS
radio network; I would expect that he
probably performed it better under other
circumstances. The real gems on this
disk are to be found in the Milhaud
Concerto de Printemps and the
unfamiliar works by Americans beginning
on track 3 with the Pastorella
and Blues of William Grant Still.
In the two Jerome Kern melodies and
Kreisler’s Londonderry Air Kaufman’s
lyrical talents are amply displayed.
The 8 pages of color
plates show paintings from the Kaufman
art collection which are discussed in
the narrative. All personal photos are
in black and white and flow in the text.
Jim Svejda has been
since 1978 a classical music commentator
on radio station KUSC in Los Angeles
and over the years has produced many
"witty and meticulously crafted"
classical music feature programs for
American public radio stations; and
he also reviews films for CBS radio.
Paul Shoemaker
*Now it can be told:
the "Concert Hall Orchestra"
was the New York Philharmonic and the
recording venue, on December 31, 1947,
was Carnegie Hall.!
**The "Ensemble
Orchestral de l’Oiseau-Lyre" was
l’Orchestre Nationale de la Radiodiffusion
Française and the recording date
was December 31, 1954, with widely praised
but unattributed program notes by Annette
Kaufman.
Louis Kaufman CD
Playlist: [76.34]
Antonio Vivaldi
(1678 - 1741)
Concerti for violin, "La Cetra,
Opus 9": #2 [9:10]
Louis Kaufman, violin and conductor;
French National Radio String Orchestra
Recorded 1951.
Camille Saint-Saëns
(1835 - 1921)
Havanaise, Opus 83 (1887) [8:29]
Louis Kaufman, violin; Netherlands Philharmonic
Orchestra, Mauritz van den Berg, conductor
Recorded 1952.
William Grant
Still (1895 - 1978)
Pastorella (1946) [8:58]
Lenox Avenue (1943): "Blues"
[2:40 ]
Louis Kaufman, violin; Columbia Symphony
Orchestra, Bernard Herrmann, conductor.
Recorded 1946.
Darius Milhaud
(1892 - 1974)
Concerto de Printemps (1934)
[8:23]
Louis Kaufman, violin; French National
Orchestra, Darius Milhaud, conductor
Recorded 1949.
Erich Wolfgang
Korngold (1897 - 1957)
Much Ado about Nothing Suite
for Violin and Piano: (1919) [11:21]
"The Maiden in the Bridal Chamber"
"March of the Night Watchmen"
"Garden Scene"
"Hornpipe".
Louis Kaufman, violin; Annette Kaufman,
piano
Recorded at the Korngold Memorial Concert,
Los Angeles, California, USA 1959.
Aaron Copland
(1900 - 1990)
Nocturne for Violin and Piano
(1925) [4:26]
Louis Kaufman, violin; Aaron Copland,
piano
Recorded 1948.
Ukulele Serenade (1926) [3:43]
Rodeo (1942): "Hoe-Down"
(arr. Copland 1945) [2:42]
Louis Kaufman, violin; Annette Kaufman,
piano.
Recorded 1947.
Robert Russell
Bennett (1894 - 1981)
Hexapoda - Five Studies in
Jitteroptera for Violin and Piano. (1935)
[6: 54]
Louis Kaufman, violin; Robert Russell
Bennett, piano.
Recorded 1942.
Jerome Kern
(1885 - 1945)
"The Song Is You." [3:14]
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." [3:01]
Louis Kaufman, violin; Leonard Berman,
piano; arranged by Kaufman/Berman.
Recorded 1946.
Anonymous
Londonderry Air (traditional
Irish ballad, arranged Fritz Kreisler)
[3:38]
Louis Kaufman, violin; Paul Ulanowsky,
piano.
Recorded 1952.
