User:Rtomasov/sandbox

Jan Tomasow (Jaime Tomasov) was born in Buenos Aires on July 13, 1914 the first son of Jewish parents who emigrated from Russia and settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He began his violin studies at the age of four, which he followed with different teachers until at age 15 he began to take classes with Aaron Klasse —who had been a pupil of Leopold Auer in St. Petersburg, of the violin school of Joachim, and who shone by pupils like Jascha Heifetz, Mischa Elman, Efrem Zimbalist etc. He applied for a grant to perfect his playing in Europe in 1934 and 1935. The application was rejected only because he was Jewish. At this time, Argentina's government was fascist and the Secretary of Culture was antisemitic When he was 22 he traveled to Europe with monies provided by his father.

In Russia he participated in a contest of violinists to perform as soloist with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (today the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio) and won it. He stayed in Moscow for 6 months.

He traveled to France where he took lessons with the violinist Jacques Thibaud.

He acted as soloist in the Salle Pleyel with the Paris Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jean Morel.

In Belgium he took lessons with Carl Flesch.

In 1939, given the possibility of a war (unleashed in September), he returned to Buenos Aires from where he traveled to the United States making stops in Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico giving solo recitals and performing as soloist with orchestra.

Finally settled in the United States in 1940 he joined the Studio Symphonic Orchestra of WGN radio in Chicago as concertmaster.

He married Evelyn Sprow, a violinist and they had a daughter —Beverly Karen Eakman (née Tomasow) an American educator and writer who co-founded the National Education Consortium in 1994

From his position in Chicago he held the concertmaster position with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC under the direction of Hans Kindler, first and Howard Mitchell, later.

Towards 1951 he was appointed professor of orchestral performance at the Peabody Academy of Music, in Baltimore.

In 1953 he was concertmaster with the Little Orchestra under the baton of Thomas Schermann, in New York. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound of the New York Public Library contain recordings in which Jan Tomasow appears as soloist. Among them are the following:
 * Serenade No. 7 in D major 'Haffner' K250 by Mozart.
 * Concerto for violin and piano in G major Hob.VIIa: by Haydn, with Eileen Flissler on piano.
 * Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor, Op.us 28 by Saint-Saëns.
 * Concerto for violin and orchestra No. 1 in C major by Haydn, Hb. VIIa / 1.
 * Suite for violin and orchestra in D major by Jean Françaix.
 * Sinfonia concertante for violin, viola and orchestra in E flat major K364 by Mozart, with Herbert Feldman, viola.

Beginning in 1953 he acted as concertmaster with the Prades Festival Orchestra under the baton of Pablo Casals, and began recording for Vanguard Records. His first recording is Mozart's Divertimento No. 17 in D major K.334 with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra under the baton of Felix Prohaska.

With this same orchestra and also under the baton of Felix Prohaska he made several recordings such as J. S. Bach's Six Brandenburg Concerts and Mozart's Divertimento No. 15 in B flat major, K.287 / 271h.

For the same label he has recorded the concertos for violin and strings in E minor by Nardini and in D minor by Tartini, as well as the Sinfonia Pastorale for violin and strings by Nardini acting as soloist and conductor of the Chamber orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.

In the same conditions he has recorded 2 concertos for violin and orchestra by Antonio Vivaldi, arr. Natchez as well as the Concerto en E major for violin and orchestra BWV 1042 by J. S. Bach.

With I Solisti di Zagreb under the baton of Antonio Janigro he has recorded The Four Seasons Op. 8 by Antonio Vivaldi.

About this recording, Wilfrid Howard Mellers OBE, a music critic, musicologist and English composer, wrote '... the soloists express their lyricism beautifully'.

John Thornton wrote in HIFI Stereo Review (October 1958, page 88): '... this recording of "The Seasons" by Vivaldi is so fine that it is almost impossible to highlight any element of it and call it "Best." There is here in this sense, an unequaled execution, crowned by the security of Tomasow.'

Ivan Supek wrote about this recording: 'My first encounter with the recording revealed to me the true meaning of the work of another great Antonio, his famous namesake, whose "Le Quattro Slaggioni" I could no longer hear on the "grandiose", too grandiose, usual performances at that time, much less enjoy them. The solo violin of Tomasow is perfectly related to I Solisti, the whole performance is impregnated with Janigro's spirit of perfectionism, leaving the music and its soul totally exposed. In my Op.inion, this also shows how Janigro's performance together with the Zagreb soloists was very advanced for its time, as Igor Stravinsky has corroborated, claiming that it was the most beautiful interpretation of "Le Quattro Slaggioni" that he had ever heard. '

Paul Shoemaker wrote about this recording: 'Nothing I've heard changes my view that the best "Seasons" were performed by Jan Tomasow and I Solisti di Zagreb and beautifully recorded by Vanguard at the beginning of the stereo era.

Other recordings for Vanguard Records are Sonatas for violin of the Italian Baroque that includes Vivaldi's Sonata in G major; Albinoni's Sonata No. 11 in A major, Op. 6; Vitali's Chaconne in G minor; Tartini's Sonata No. 10 in G minor; Marcello's Sonata No. 1 in D minor; and Tartini's Sonata No. 4 in G major, accompanied by Anton Heiller on the harpsichord.

Under the baton of Maestro Mario Rossi he has recorded Antonio Vivaldi's 12 concertos for violin and orchestra that make L'Estro Armonico Op. 3, as well as L'Histoire du Soldat by Stravinsky.

His last recording for the Vanguard Records label includes the Sonata for violin and piano in A major No. 1 Op. 13 by Gabriel Fauré; the Sonata for violin and piano in G minor, L. 140, La plus que lente L121, Il pleut dans mon Coeur L60 No. 2 and Minstrels L117 No. 12, by Debussy, with Franz Holetschek on the piano.

From 1951 he visited Argentina on several occasions giving recitals in Buenos Aires (Teatro Colón) and other cities. In Montevideo, Uruguay he gave a recital at the Teatro Solís. In 1957 he acted as conductor of an orchestra at the Opera Theater of Buenos Aires, the soloist being pianist Friedrich Guida.

In 1961 he appeared on Argentine television with a program cycle that included the Six Brandenburg Concerts of J. S. Bach acting as soloist and conductor.

Jan Tomasow has acted as concertmaster with several orchestras, including the American Ballet Theater Orchestra, a group of which he was Music Director. With this orchestra he has toured the Soviet Union and the Far East.

Jan Tomasow died in Buenos Aires on November 27, 1961.