Born 23 September, 1915, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Died 6 August, 2003, Danbury, Connecticut, USA

Julius Baker was born in Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he returned to Cleveland to play in the Cleveland Orchestra under Artur Rodzinski. Later, Mr. Baker joined the Pittsburgh Symphony as a solo flutist under Fritz Reiner. He left Pittsburgh to become solo flutist of the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in New York City. During this time, he joined the famed Bach Aria Group with which he was associated for eighteen years. When the CBS Orchestra was disbanded, Mr. Baker went as solo flutist to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Later he returned to New York to assume the solo flute position with the New York Philharmonic, where he remained until 1983.
Mr. Baker performed countless solo and chamber music concerts in addition to teaching. He was on the faculties of the Juilliard School and The Curtis Institute of Music - his alma mater. Mr. Baker was a member of an international woodwind quintet formed by the Yamaha Corporation to give concerts in major cities in Japan celebrating the 100th anniversary of the company. He also gave solo recitals in both Japan and Korea and taught at the Toho University in Tokyo. In April 1994, he performed in Munich, Germany in celebration of the 200th birthday of Theobald Boehm, the developer of the modern flute.
Julius Baker gave master classes throughout the U.S. and in Canada, and also served as a consultant for flutes to the Yamaha Corporation of America.
Time Magazine wrote about Mr. Baker's playing: “He produces what is surely the most glorious tone that ever came out of a flute, and his level of virtuosity is second to none.” This sentiment has been shared by the great conductors of our time: Leonard Bernstein, Fritz Reiner, Bruno Walter and Leopold Stokowski all selected Julius Baker to grace the solo chair of their respective orchestras.
Donal Henahan, music critic of the Chicago Daily News and later of The New York Times, wrote: “Perfection of intonation and a glowing tone are not the only reasons for Baker's inclusion in the inner circle of international artists. His musicianship — and equally important — his musicality must also be cited. One does not become one of the most sought-after of chamber-music artists on the strength of pretty tone or any other single quality. Julius Baker is not merely a superior technician but the complete musician.

Boris Barere was born to a highly musical family. Not only was his father the legendary pianist Simon Barere, Blumenfeld was the teacher of both Vladimir Horowitz and Simon Barere among many important pianists. When Boris was four years old he started piano studies with his parents. During his early years, the economic conditions in Russia were disintegrating. Often, Simon Barere would come home after a recital with a sack of potatoes as concert payment. Conditions became so dreadful that the family was forced to leave Russia and temporarily settle in Riga Latvia where Helen Barere's brother, Franz Vlashek, a cellist, was living.

In 1931, Simon Barere received a promising offer of a lucrative series of concerts to take place in Berlin. Unfortunately, as soon as the family arrived in Berlin they were informed that all concerts were cancelled due to the rise of the Hitler regime and its sanctions against employment of Jews. As a child of eleven, Boris was often the subject of harassment and ridicule at that time by anti-Semites. but his mother, Helen Vlashek of Czechoslovak origin, was also a pianist and a fellow Blumenfeld student. The lack of money forced Simon Barere to play the piano in vaudeville between clown acts and knife throwers. The situation became desperate and the family escaped to Sweden where they stayed from 1933 to 1940. In spite of the turmoil and constant moving, Boris continued to study the piano while attending school in Sweden. But even Sweden became unsafe because of the rise of Nazi Germany and looming war. So, in 1940, Boris and his mother embarked the ship named Kungsholm on their way to the United States. Simon Barere had already been active in the USA for a while playing concerts and recitals. Their first and somehow less than glamorous address was with a Russian friend, a baritone and a Schubert specialist named Benjaminovich. Although well known in Russia he quickly discovered that there was no demand and no way to make a living singing Schubert in America. So he traded “lieder” for “chickens” by establishing a poultry farm in New Jersey. Boris managed to practice the piano in between periods of tending to the chickens as part of his duties.

In 1941, the Barere family moved to Chicago where Boris became the student of Sergei Tarnowsky who had been Vladimir Horowitz's teacher long ago in Kiev. In 1942, they relocated to a rented home in Scarsdale, New York. Soon after, Boris received a letter from the US Army demanding that he either join the Army or return to Russia. Even though Boris was not a US citizen at the time, he “gladly” chose to enlist. He trained at Fort Dix, New Jersey and also at Fort Riley, Kansas, where he found a “friendly” church in which he and his Army friend, Arnold Belnik, a violinist, often played music together during early morning hours. In 1943, Boris was sent to Casablanca, Morocco, and in 1944, he participated in the invasion at Angio Beach, Italy.
He formed a lasting friendship with actor Burt Lancaster who was a member of his troupe. In 1946, after the war, Boris studied at the Juilliard School with Rosina Lhevinne.
In 1947, he married Sybil Marks, a pianist who took lessons with Boris' mother. Boris Barere truly enjoyed playing chamber music and dedicated most of his musical activities in the years that followed to performing with illustrious musicians such as violinists David Nadien and Berl Senofsky. With both of them, he developed strong friendships and created a series of memorable recordings. (Cembal d'amour CDs, 106, 110, 111, and 117) He also performed on other occasions with flutist Julius Baker, and violinists Michael Rabin and Ossy Renardi.

For a number of years, Boris played for Balanchine's Ballet Company in New York City. Balanchine asked Boris to record Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes and selections from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker for possible future choreography projects, and thus the solo tracks on this CD were created.
Notes by Mordecai Shehori
 

SIMON BARERE, Piano

Born September 1, 1896, Odessa, Russia
Died April 2, 1951, New York City

When Simon Barere suddenly passed away on April 2, 1951, on the stage of Carnegie Hall while performing the Grieg A minor piano concerto with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, the music world lost a colossal figure. Even now, more than fifty years later, the name Simon Barere inspires feelings of awe and admiration from countless music lovers and piano aficionados. Although his technique is the main source of this wonderment, Barere was much more than a superior technician; he was a great intuitive and improvisatory musician who always put his facility in the service of music. His pianissimo passages in fast tempos were formed brilliantly and evenly, like a string of perfect pearls made of sheer light. In spite of the often breakneck velocity of his playing, there was never a sense of rushing or exertion, but the impression of ease, joy, and elegance.

Many pianists are capable of rendering lyrical passages with some degree of poetry especially in slow movements, but what Simon Barere was able to do is to play poetically in all passages, including bravura passages of immense difficulty. His lyrical phrases had tenderness and flexibility but always retained pulse and fluency. Barere's way of understating the romantic passages is particularly poignant. 

This collection of works originates from the recording sessions of the last week of March 1951, only a few days before his death. According to Simon Barere's son, Boris, who is a great pianist in his own right, Simon Barere never heard these studio recordings. Since he disliked editing, what the listener hears in these recordings are essentially live, unedited, complete takes. Although physically he was already an ailing man, suffering from an acute heart condition, the playing here displays his great technical prowess in tact. More important are the additional layers of aesthetic beauty and musical maturity one hears compared to his earlier live recordings of these works. 
Boris Barere told me that the Liszt etude La Campanella was not on the list of works to be recorded, however the engineer at the recording sessions asked Simon Barere if the work was in his repertoire. Barere answered that he had not played it in more than ten years, and asked the engineer not to record while he proceeded to give a blazing performance of it. Luckily for us, the engineer did not obey the maestro and secretly recorded it for posterity (track 6).
Simon Barere was born in Odessa, the eleventh of thirteen children. He studied piano and advanced quickly, soon helping to support his family by playing in cinemas and restaurants. At the age of sixteen, he went to St. Petersburg where he overwhelmed the great composer Glazunov, who was then head of the Conservatory. While at the Conservatory, Barere studied with Annette Essipova, a leading teacher of the time. After her death, he studied with Felix Blumenfeld, whose other pupils included Heinrich Neuhaus and Vladimir Horowitz. Upon graduation, Barere won the prestigious Rubinstein Prize.

Barere then began to concertize widely, at the same time teaching at the Kiev Conservatory. He married Helena Vlashek, who later became a celebrated piano pedagogue, teaching the great pianist Earl Wild, among others. In 1932 Barere was able to move his wife and son to Berlin, but because of Hitler's persecution of Jews, he was unable to give concerts and once again had to play in cabarets and on vaudeville stages to support his family. 
Simon Barere made his British recital debut in 1934 and his concerto debut, with the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, playing the Tchaikovsky B-flat minor piano concerto. Barere made his American debut at Carnegie Hall on November 9, 1936, to highest acclaim. In addition to the many Carnegie Hall recitals that followed, he toured Australia, New Zealand, and South America, as well as the United States. Simon Barere performed as a soloist with many orchestras, including the New York, Edinburgh, and Berlin Philharmonics, and the London, Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Stockholm Symphony Orchestras.
Notes by Mordecai Shehori

Born 3 June 1925 in Bucharest, Romania.
Died 30 January 1978 in Istanbul, Turkey.

He died on stage at the untimely age of 52 while performing Beethoven's Tempest sonata in a recital in Istanbul.

Notes by Mordecai Shehori

Born 2 February 1901 in Vilnius
Died 10 December 1987 in Los Angeles
The greatest violinist of the twentieth century, Jascha Heifetz was born in 1901 in Vilnius (now Lithuania, then Russia) and died in 1987 in Los Angeles.  His father, also a musician, gave him his first violin at the age of three, and he played the Mendelssohn Concerto in concert three years later.  Heifetz began studying with Leopold Auer at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory when only nine years old and performed in concert there the following year.   In 1912, at the age of 11, he began touring as a soloist outside of Russia.  He traveled to America in 1917, making his Carnegie Hall debut in October of that year.  Heifetz became an American citizen in 1925.  Master of a vast repertoire, Heifetz recorded much of it over the years in both solo and ensemble performances.  He won three Grammy Awards and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Renowned violinists both older and younger, like Fritz Kreisler and Nathan Milstein, were humbled by his mastery of the instrument, but the best anecdote tells of two musicians stunned by the technique and lyrical tone of the sixteen-year-old Heifetz at his New York debut recital.  During the concert, Mischa Elman, a world-famous violinist at the peak of his career, wiped the perspiration from his brow and turned to his friend, pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky, and said, “It’s very warm in here.”  To which Godowsky replied, “Not for pianists.
Notes by Mordecai Shehori

Born in New York, David Nadien's first solo appearance with the New York Philharmonic was at the young age of fourteen, under the direction of Rudolph Ganz. At nineteen, Arturo Toscanini chose him to be the winner of the coveted Leventritt Award in 1946. Between 1941 and 1971, he appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic more than thirty times under such conductors as George Szell, Leonard Bernstein, Dmitri Mitropoulos, Andre Kostelanetz, William Steinberg, George Semkov, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. From 1966 through 1970, Nadien was concertmaster of the Philharmonic under the baton of Leonard Bernstein. 

Mr. Nadien has also soloed with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Symphony, the Omaha Symphony, the National Orchestra Association, the Montreal Symphony, and the Quebec Philharmonic. He has also given countless recitals in New York City's Town Hall, as well as in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Montreal, and Quebec. In Canada, he was also active in the Stratford Music Festival in Ontario, where he headed the string workshop and appeared as a soloist with the Festival Orchestra. 

Nadien studied with Adolpho Betti in Italy and later with Ivan Galamian in New York City. Four years after his New York Philharmonic debut, he entered the American armed forces, serving first in the infantry and then as concertmaster of the Army Services Orchestra. 

Notes by Mordecai Shehori

MORDECAI SHEHORI,
Piano

Born into an artistically gifted family in Israel, Mordecai Shehori embraces a rich pianistic tradition that emphasizes a unique physical and spiritual approach to music making, as taught to him early on by the legendary pianist Mindru Katz.  Mr. Shehori came to America to continue his musical studies and graduated from the Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Beveridge Webster, and later studied with Claude Frank at the Mannes College of Music.  Today Mr. Shehori is internationally recognized for his brilliant virtuosity, sophisticated and inspired interpretation, and consummate musicianship.  Having performed and recorded a wide-ranging repertoire, Shehori cites his close collaboration and friendship with Vladimir Horowitz as a significant source of knowledge and inspiration, along with one-on-one sessions with such important pianists as Stefan Askenase (a student of Liszt's disciple Emil von Sauer), Gina Bachauer, Alexis Weissenberg, and violinist Nathan Milstein.

When not concertizing throughout the world, Mordecai Shehori resides in New York City, where he is sought after and admired as a highly skilled teacher. He devotes much of his time to teaching the art of the piano to students ranging from music lovers to professional pianists, including graduates of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Mannes College of Music. 

Mr. Shehori is the founder and president of Cembal d'amour, a classical music recording company dedicated to the release of rare historical recordings by such legendary figures as Jascha Heifetz, Simon Barere, Henryk Szeryng, Mindru Katz, Berl Senofsky,
and David Nadien.

Shehori's annual New York concerts (twenty-seven to date) are eagerly anticipated by a broad audience of musically sophisticated listeners.  "Mr. Shehori has developed a cult following in New York piano circles, for good reason.  He certainly possesses a suitably big technique.  Still, mindless and heartless keyboard fluency is not uncommon nowadays and perhaps never was.  What sets Mr. Shehori apart from most virtuosos with their off-the-shelf performances is the poetic inwardness and rapturous intensity of his playing." (Donal Henahan, The New York Times).

A genuine Renaissance man, endowed with overwhelming and multi-faceted gifts, Mr. Shehori's uncompromising artistry is evident in every note that he plays.  He possesses the rare ability to bring music to such a high level that it becomes a transcendental experience for the listener.  In this world of music on demand and instant gratification, many pianists' music reaches our ears; Mr. Shehori's touches the inner depths of our soul.
Notes by Charles McLimans 

Born 19 April 1926 in Philadelphia, USA
Died  21 June 2002 in Baltimore. USA

Newsweek once called Berl Senofsky a “giant of a man…an American musical hero of Bunyanesque proportions.” Consistently praised for the warmth and beauty of his tone, breathtaking virtuosity, and impeccable musicianship, Berl Senofsky's artistry has won him the boundless admiration of his colleagues and audiences alike.

Born in Philadelphia in 1926, the son of violinists, Mr. Senofsky received his first music lessons from his father at the age of three. By the time he was six, he had won a scholarship to study with Louis Persinger. At the age of twelve he received a scholarship to the Juilliard School to study with Ivan Galamian, with whom he remained for twelve years. Following military service in World War II, Senofsky made his New York recital debut as the winner of the coveted Walter Naumberg Award. Shortly thereafter, he appeared as a soloist for the first time with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.

In 1955, Berl Senofsky became the first— and only—American violinist to win the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition. Since then, he has become a permanent member of the jury for the Belgian competition.

Mr. Senofsky has performed regularly on the international concert circuit. In the United States, he has played with the New York Philharmonic, the American Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh, among others. His schedule has also taken him to Europe, South America, and the Far East.

In addition to extensive touring, recording, and teaching duties at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Mr. Senofsky was the founder and prime mover of the American Artists International Foundation, Inc. Established to help prepare young American musicians for international competitions, the organization has made it possible for American violinists to participate in the Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 1983, Mr. Senofsky was invited by the director of the Shanghai Conservatory to start a new school of violin playing; he remained in the People's Republic of China for three months giving master classes and performances.

Notes by Mordecai Shehori

Szeryng was a leading representative of the golden age of violin playing, along with such artists as Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Kreisler; his playing embodied a lushness of tone with sophisticated phrasing and bold intensity rarely heard today.

Notes by Mordecai Shehori