MEDIA

"Meet Anshel Brusilow"

Counterpoint Magazine, Winter 2003

Much more than just a familiar face on campus, Anshel Brusilow, a musician since the age of five, has conducted the UNT Symphony Orchestra for the past thirteen years.

Counterpoint: Who was your mentor as an aspiring violinist?

Brusilow: My mentor was Dr. Jani Szanto, who came to this country in 1939 from Munich, Germany where he had been professor of violin. He came to Philadelphia where he founded the Philadelphia Musical Academy. I studied there with him for seven years.

Counterpoint: As a violinist, you served as concertmaster for many orchestras. When and why did you decide to pursue conducting?

Brusilow: I always wanted to conduct. I had concertized extensively as a violinist when in my teens, but my dream was always to conduct, and I began seriously studying with Pierre Monteaux when I was sixteen.

Counterpoint: Why did you choose to come to UNT?

Brusilow: Because the Dean at the time was Ken Cuthbert, a longtime friend, and he offered me a visiting professorship for one year.

Counterpoint: If you only intended to stay one year, why did you stay longer?

Brusilow: I loved the young musicians, the faculty, the university environment, and the life style which was so completely different from what I had been doing for so many years. I was enjoying myself, and I still am.

Counterpoint: In your opinion, what is the most challenging piece to conduct?

Brusilow: The most challenging piece to conduct is the piece I happen to be working on at the time.

Counterpoint: You are a former conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and currently serve as conductor of the Richardson Symphony Orchestra. How does it differ to conduct at a university level versus at a professional level?

Brusilow: Conducting professionals and university students differ greatly. With the students, I am teaching them the music with the understanding that they probably have never heard it. That in itself is a challenge. When they do learn and perform it well, it is very rewarding. Professionals are expected to know the music when they first come to rehearsal. I try to teach the students to learn the notes ahead of time.

Counterpoint: How do you go about choosing your repertoire for the semester?

Brusilow: I choose repertoire that I believe will be important to those students who will go on to pursue a musical career. It should give them the basics that they will need to know.

Counterpoint: How competitive is it for students to be accepted into the Symphony Orchestra?

Brusilow: It is highly competitive, especially with the woodwinds and brass. The strings, although they are very good players, are still lacking in numbers, but we are getting there.

Counterpoint: Has the current economic recession hurt scholarship funding for these students?

Brusilow: Yes, the current economy has affected our scholarship funding tremendously. I hope sincerely that the economy will turn around quickly. We are desperately in need of financial support. This is one of the finest music schools in the country and very deserving of help.

Counterpoint: Last April, the Symphony Orchestra and Grand Chorus collaborated for a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in C minor. Few other colleges are able to mount such a large scale symphonic work. What enabled the College of Music to do it, and how did the collaboration affect your regular rehearsal process?

Brusilow: Unlike most schools, we had the forces to perform this gigantic work--chorus, soloists, orchestra, and all the extra players. The main difficulty was getting them all together for rehearsals. Some could only rehearse at a special time, other had to leave early. The chorus could only rehearse at a time the orchestra could not (but we did manage that well), and some chorus members and orchestra players were missing at one time or another. When all is said and done, I thought the performance was marvelous. I do not know of another university orchestra anywhere that could do as well.

Counterpoint: Have you had the opportunity to view the DVD made of the Mahler concert? If so, do you feel that it captures the intensity of the live performance?

Brusilow: I have not viewed the DVD, nor will I for quite awhile. Actually, I never listen to any of my concerts. It is too nerve-wracking. Don't mistake me; it is just that I am never pleased completely with my performance and need time away from the listening to gain a proper perspective of what I have done. I have always been this way with all my recordings.

Counterpoint: Which experience in your career is most memorable to you?

Brusilow: The most memorable experience would be having to perform the Brahms Violin Concerto as soloist with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra on thirty minutes notice.

Counterpoint: You have had the opportunity to work with many famous composers and conductors. Tell us a lesson or two you learned from them that remains with you today.

Brusilow: From George Szell, "Music is not a mathematical equation. Don't be picky." From Igor Stravinsky, "Please conduct my music the way I wrote it." From Sir Thomas Beecham, "Play it my good man," and from Eugene Ormandy, "If you play in my orchestra, you are the best," and "Let the orchestra play."

"Big Crowd Cheers at Dallasound II"

Dallas Times Herald, March 7, 1971

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra did it again Saturday night and left a standing-room-only crowd cheering for more with its Dallasound II.

The all-pops musical program sponsored by The Times Herald was held in the Apparel Mart's Great Hall.

Symphony conductor Anshel Brusilow mixed in old favorites from the first Dallasound concert back in January with new arrangements especially done for Saturday night's concert by Bill Holcombe.

Brusilow said Dallasound II was such a whopping success that a third concert will be forthcoming.

The music-hungry crowd cheered and applauded.

Dallasound II like the first concert crew music lovers of all ages from ladies in fur coats and evening finery to teenagers in bellbottomed pants and long hair.

A new feature for Saturday night's concert was the appearance of a Dallas pop group, The Majority of One, composed of three young men and a young woman.

They appeared with Dallasound regulars.

The concert also featured solos by several members of the orchestra itself--such as Gordon Sweeney on trombone, Richard Giangiullo on trumpet and Alfred Mouledous on piano.

Selections from the symphony's Dallasound stereo album were played.

Saturday night's selections also included a group of Academy Award winning songs, among them the number Brusilow predicted would be the 1970 winner--"Love Story."

Concert in Review:
"Brusilow Makes His Debut"

by Olin Chism, Dallas Times Herald, 1970

The new chief musician of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra made his formal debut Thursday night and an auspicious one it was, promising much for this season and perhaps for seasons to come. For among his qualities Anshel Brusilow possesses one that a conductor cannot do without: He knows how to hold an audience and excite it. No one went away yawning Thursday night.

It added to the evening's pleasures that Brusilow was joined on the McFarlin Auditorium stage by one of today's outstanding young virtuosi, violinist Itzhak Perlman. He impresses more with each hearing.

Dealing first with Brusilow, it seems that he is his own musical man, having a definite point of view for each piece that may or may not coincide with the usual interpretation but which has its own validity nonetheless. Brusilow appears to pay considerable attention to details such as those of the orchestral balance and gradation of dynamics, and in the process he comes forth with performances of high interest.

That Brusilow has special ideas was evident in the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, for which Perlman was soloist. In guiding the orchestra, Brusilow took what was almost a chamber approach to this piece of music. This does not mean that the moments of excitement were lacking, but it does mean there was, for much of the time, a subdued feeling in comparison with more blatantly dramatic interpretations that are common.

This approach worked out, for when the peaks came they shone brightly in the sun. And Brusilow's ideas meshed well with those of Perlman.

Another piece directed by Brusilow Thursday night was an absolute success. This was a sympohny by Johann Christian Bach, youngest son of the great Johann Sebastian. Again we had a chamber approach, with the orchestra reduced to early Classical proportions.

Brusilow took due care that the themes and solo passages stood out in relief, with the repeated-note accompaniments of this period--which can become tiresome--held down to the quietest pianissimos. There was great precision in the DSO's playing, and the contrasts of lyricism and mild drama worked beautifully. This symphony is a little gem of a piece, and the performance was a gem of interpretation.

It would be obvious to say that Brusilow's approach to conducting comes from his former directorship of the Philadelphia Chamber Symphony, but his approach to Richard Strauss' "Rosekavalier" suite was in no way chamber-like. He pulled out all stops in this massively orchestrated piece, varying near-frenzied fortissimos with the schmaltz of Strauss' waltzes. It was a stirring finish to the evening.

"Dallas Symphony Announces New Conductor"

Dallas North Reporter, Thursday, January 8, 1970

The Dallas Symphony Association, Inc. has announced the appointment of Anshel Brusilow as resident conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for the 1970-71 season. As resident conductor Brusilow will be responsible for planning concerts to be presented in the forthcoming season and will also conduct a large number of the more than 160 concerts which will be played in the north Texas area.

The forty-one-year-old Brusilow will formally assume his position at the conclusion of the current season, although much planning will be done immediately in order that dates, guest conductors and artists may be announced soon after the first of the year.

The announcement of Brusilow's appointment came from symphony association president David A. Stretch following a meeting of the Board of Trustees. In making the announcement, Stretch said, "It is a great pleasure for me to announce the appointment of Anshel Brusilow as resident conductor of our orchestra, not only because of his experience and background in conducting, but also because of his experience with two of this country's greatest orchestras and his close association with thousands of orchestra musicians during the years. He will certainly bring to Dallas a wealth of knowledge in his field, and we look forward to his sharing this knowledge with thousands of persons involved in the activities of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

A native of Philadelphia, Brusilow received his formal music training at the Curtis Institute of music with the famous violinist and teacher Efrem Zimbalist and at the Philadelphia Academy of Music with Dr. Jani Szanto. At the age of sixteen he was the youngest student ever to be taken by the great French conductor Pierre Monteux, and he worked with the maestro for the next ten years, the last two of which were as assistant conductor to Monteux and the San Francisco Orchestra. During this time he was also winner of the Jacques Thibaug Competition and appeared with the orchestra of the Paris Conservatory as violin soloist.

Following four years as associate concertmaster under George Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra, Brusilow was appointed concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy, a position he occupied for seven seasons during which time he appeared as soloist and conductor many times. He has appeared as soloist with every major orchestra in the United States and presented recitals in the major cities of Europe including Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.

In 1966 he founded the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia and was its chief conductor for 110 concerts in the first season and 131 concerts in the second, including a transcontinental tour of the United States and Canada, and 5 recordings for RCA Victor.

Brusilow is currently producing television shows for major networks and established his own production company called Myriad.

He and his wife Marilyn have three children--sixteen-year-old David, fourteen-year-old Jennie and five-year-old Melinda.

From "Chamber Group in Princely Concert"

by James Felton, Philadelphia Bulletin, 1967

The Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia offered a program at the Academy of Music last night that would satisfy the taste of any musical prince.

In the old days, as we know, any prince at all would be lucky today to have players of this kind at the beck and call of anyone who can afford the price of a ticket.

The players whom conductor Anshel Brusilow has assembled around him are of virtuoso caliber--no doubt about it. Their performance last night would have stunned the crowned heads of Europe a century ago and more. More's the pity that they weren't heard by a full concert hall, in a concert of Bach, Nielsen, Wolf and Brahms.

I doubt if Brahms ever heard his Serenade No. 1 played so beautifully. Brusilow has taken this work to heart and made something distinctive and appealing about it. He is aware of its shifting colors and strengths. Instead of merely hearing the music ... he seems aware here of expression and the importance of individual interpretation that marks him as a real conductor, distinct from a time-beater.

The Serenade's six movement moved warmly towards the final rondo and its rewarding climax. Brahms' tissues of sound were clear, strong, convincing.

Hugo Wolf's "Italian Serenade" was a gem of intricate playing from every section of the orchestra. The balance between instruments produced a lively effect. A few flaws in the woodwinds merely pointed to their never-failing excellence elsewhere.

"We Hear You, Brahms, Loud and Clear"

by Raymond Ericson, The New York Times,
Sunday, November 5, 1967

Probably no music ensemble has settled down so quickly and firmly on the American scene as the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia. Made up of 37 players, it was founded last season by Anshel Brusilow, a violinist who was interested in conducting. Its inaugural season held 109 concerts, and this season is finding it just about as busy. It is continuing as a steady visitor to New York, with four concerts scheduled for Carnegie Hall, and next summer it will be resident at the new Ambler Music Festival in Pennsylvania.

Now it turns up with its first recording, for no less a company than RCA Victor. The work chosen for this disk debut was a shrewd one. Brahms' Serenade in D (Op. 11) (LSC 2976). This is a large-scale work of chamber-music origins. Brahms composed it first for nine instrument, then revised it for full orchestra, and it is actually well suited to a compromise-size group. The work also appears in the current Schwann catalogue in only two recordings, neither of them outstanding quality.

Because of its ambiguous position as a symphonic-chamber work and because of its length--almost 50 minutes--the Serenade does not get played much in the concert halls either. It was Brahms' second orchestral composition (the predecessor being the First Piano Concerto) and is not nearly so distinct in melodic terms as his later works were to be. Nor does it seem as firmly knit. But if its six movements seem a bit diffuse and not affording enough contrast in mood and tempo, it is not without its ruminative charm. It is also well and interestingly scored, with much use of winds and lower strings for thematic statements and solo passages.

The performance and recording are technically expert and leave nothing to be desired in this respect. Brusilow sees that the orchestra plays with clarity of texture, and the engineering reproduces this clarity perfectly. The conductor is obviously not out to make a splashy effect and treats this rather classically inspired piece with a coolness appropriate enough to the style.

Excerpt from
"Rostropovich Returns in 2nd Triumph"

by Paul Hume, The Washington Post, Thursday, December 16, 1965

Mstislav Rostropovich returned to Constitution Hall in triumph last night under the banner of the Musicians Pension Fund. Just two weeks after his overwhelming initial appearance with the National Symphony, the great cellist came back to play two concertos under the guest conducting of Anshel Brusilow.

Every seat in the hall was sold days before the concert began, and there were no unused tickets. The presence of nearly 4000 listeners was the highest form of tribute Washington's music lovers could pay Rostropovich, and there were grateful to the musicians for making it possible.

Using no baton, Brusilow made the music expressive with his hands, and dispensing with the score in everything except the accompaniment for the Shostakovich Concerto, gave his entire attention to the players.

The Orchestral portions of the all-Russian program included the prelude to Moussorgsky's "Khoanchina," Tschaikowsky's "Francesca da Rimini," and the overture to "Colas Breugnon" by Kabalevsky. These the orchestra played with all the fine sound and discipline it could muster.

Excerpt from "UNT's Music Hall Debut Shows Intimacy Its Greatest Strength"

by Wayne Lee Gay, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, March 1999

DENTON -- Sixty years after the head of the music department first requested a facility suitable for large ensembles, the University of North Texas last night inaugurated the Lucille "Lupe" Murchison Performing Arts Center with a concert of student ensembles in the center's 1,100-seat Margot and Bill Winspear Performance Hall.

During those 60 years, the university's music department, now designated as a college of music, has developed one of the nation's leading programs not only for jazz but also for classical music, as last night's performances proved.

In the final section, conductor Anshel Brusilow joined the UNT Symphony Orchestra and Grand Chorus for Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. This performance showed the room's greatest strength -- its intimacy, which made this rollicking oratorio more thrilling than ever.

Virtually all of the area's major orchestras and colleges have performed Belshazzar's Feast in recent years; Brusilow last night surpassed all of the conductors who have taken on the piece in these parts with his insight into its tempos and momentum.