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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2023
Well, no. We are led by destiny, really. When I was very young, I was held to be a literary phenomenon. It was thought I was going to be an important writer. Even when I was very small, the teachers said ‘This child is already writing books’. I had an imagination, 1 knew my spelling and things like that almost from birth. And then when I was 14 years of age – in fact, on 11 November 1918, the day of the armistice of the First World War – my father died. My mother was ill, I had a younger sister – I became the head of the family. What could I do? I didn't have a trade, of course, but like every child I had learned the violin a little. Luckily at that time there were lots of cafés which had musicians who played waltzes. And it was the time of the silent cinema: there were little orchestras in the cinema. So I began to make my living like that, in Paris, and it was going alright. And one day I said to myself, it was fortunate that I had that; you should always do things seriously when you see that they stand up OK. It fed me and my family, so it was worth my while going on with it. So I continued to study the violin and I entered the Conservatoire.
1 At that time, Rosenthal means: he was preceded by Maurice Delage (1879–1961) and Jean Huré (1877–1930). But the three of them do indeed constitute Ravel's entire list of students.
2 The small town in Les Yvelines, 30 kilometres due west of Paris, where Ravel lived.
3 The Huit Bagatelles of 1923–24; they have been recorded by Daniel Blumenthal on Etcetera KTC 1168, along with the rest of Rosenthal's output for piano.
4 The choreographer Leonid Massine (1896–1979); Rosenthal prounounces it in its original Russian form.
5 Rosenthal is referring to his most recent recording, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo on Naxos 8.554004; the coupling is his Offenbachiana (1953).
6 He has nonetheless also ‘done it’ to works of Mozart (KK594, 608 and 616), Chabrier, Debussy, Franck, Monteverdi, Purcell and, of course, Ravel (the Histoires Naturelles and the central three of the Cinq mélodies populates grecqttes).
7 A web-search revealed over 60 CDs conducted by Rosenthal currently or recently available, most of them made with the Orchestra National de France, the group with which he was most closely associated; the composers likewise reflect national priorities: Debussy, Ravel, Milhaud, Lalo, Offenbach, Bizet, Chailley, Messaien and others.
8 Neither work has been recorded, though Rosenthal's 1937 operette La Poule Koire can be found on EMI CZS5 68888–2.
9 The French label Calliope has issued a disc of Rosenthal's chamber music (CAL 9894), featuring the Sonate-Marnnelade, Les Soirées du Petit Juas, the Trois Pièces d'après Nadermann, La Belle Zélie and Juventas.
10 Recorded by Jérôme Kaltenbach and the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy on Marco Polo 8.223768, along with Les Perils Métiers, Trois Poèmes de Marie Rouslan, Deux Poèmes de Jean Cassou and Trois Prières.