JCC Chamber Music Series: Roman Rabinovich, piano; Daniel Temnik, violin. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 31; Debussy: Estampes; Franck: Violin Sonata. September 18, 2025, Leah Posluns Theatre in the Jewish Community Centre.
Setting the Stage
One look at the piano on the stage at the Leah Posluns Theatre in the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) last Thursday, September 18, was enough to indicate that the chamber music program was being taken quite seriously.
Violinist Daniel Temnik, the artistic director of the series, had arranged for a Fazioli Grand Piano to be sent for the evening — care of Remenyi — so that Roman Rabinovich could play his music with the depth and force he required. It showed the proper respect for the acclaimed pianist, whose international career had been launched when he won the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in 2008. Since then, he’s been a soloist for such notable orchestras as the Orcheste de Chambre de Paris, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Prague Symphony and the Meininger Hofkappelle as well as performing recitals at prestigious venues like Vienna’s Bösendorfer-Zyklus and London’s Wigmore Hall.
Rabinovitch was introduced with genuine fondness by Temnik, who recalled having dinners cooked by the pianist’s mother in Israel years ago while they were plotting — or at least hoping — for their future successes abroad.
Born in Uzbekistan, raised in Israel and educated at the Curtis Institute and Juilliard, Rabinovitch spends much of his life traveling.
Both Temnik and Rabinovich are in Canada part of the time, with Temnik running his own violin studio among many activities in the GTA and Rabinovich being the artistic director of Calgary’s ChamberFest West. It was clear that Temnik had organized the concert as an opportunity to showcase his friend to the growing audience in north Toronto.
The Concert
When Rabinovich took to the stage, he evoked the first composition of the program with scholarly aplomb.
Debussy’s Estampes takes listeners to three exotic locations — Indonesia, Granada and Northeast France — so it’s best if they’re properly prepared for the journeys. Composed with the wistfulness and beauty that are Debussy’s trademarks, the pieces offer poetic illusions of their inspirations. With “Pagodas,” the gamelan music of Indonesia and the architecture of the locale is conjured while the Arabic scale and the guitars of southern Spain are celebrated in “La soiree des Grenade.” For “Jardins dans la pluie,” the feel and sound of a rainstorm is dramatically created.
Properly prepared, the near capacity audience at the Posluns roundly applauded Rabinovich’s efforts though they weren’t his best for the evening. As soon became evident with his stirring interpretation of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no. 31, Rabinovich is superb at capturing the dynamism of an exceptional piece, but he was less successful at offering up the idealized sensibility of Debussy.
On the other hand, his handling of one of Beethoven’s most extraordinary piano compositions was terrific — and he was able to use the Fazioli, noted for its resonance and darker hues, to the utmost. Of the piece, the highly respected pianist and scholar Jonathan Biss has stated that “it goes from the absolute depths of despair to utter euphoria”, and that emotional ride was conveyed brilliantly by Rabinovich.
For the third composition of the evening, Rabinovich played with his comrade Temnik in a no-holds-barred performance of Cesar Franck’s extraordinary Violin Sonata.
In an entertaining introduction to the piece, Rabinovich explained that the Sonata was composed as a wedding present to one of the finest violinists of the era, Eugene Ysaÿe. It was first performed by Ysaÿe on his wedding day with the brilliant pianist Marie-Leontine Bordes-Pene, who premiered works by Chausson, Duparc and Fauré.
Rabinovich noted that the piece was technically challenging for both instruments, but that didn’t deter Ysaÿe from playing it for the next 40 years, making it an important addition to the chamber music repertoire. Temnik, who was playing a fine Hungarian violin, crafted by Ernő Guminár in 1974 in Székesfehérvár, combined brilliantly with Rabinovich to offer their version of one of the finest entries in the violin-piano canon.
The Reception
The audience clearly loved all aspect of the performance. The casual dress of the instrumentalists — both wearing colourful shirts with no jackets — lent an intimacy to the occasion.
Though it isn’t completely unique to have each piece explained in advance, there are venues — Koerner Hall for one — which rarely feature it. Here, the scholarly presentation works very well.
With Daniel Temnik as the main force behind the chamber music series, the JCC is in good hands. It stands every chance of becoming a staple in the GTA’s classical music season.
By Marc Glassman for Ludwig-Van
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