Franz Clement's name has come down to us as the dedicatee of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, but a year previously, in 1805, he wrote his own Concerto in D, and it's a major find. This is no orchestrally challenged, formally dysfunctional, tasteless virtuoso vehicle, but rather is a full-blown classical concerto nearly as long (40-plus minutes) as the Beethoven. The melodic material is consistently attractive--and just as importantly, equally interesting harmonically. Deftly scored, and of course wonderfully written for the violin, its lyricism clearly anticipates Beethoven's own work of 1806. If it has one defect, it's that the phrasing turns a little bit square now and then in the outer movements. But let's face it--by the standards of your average early-Romantic concerto (think Spohr and his crowd) this is a masterpiece.

It goes without saying that Rachel Barton Pine plays the work with the style and elegance that it deserves. While attentive to the opportunities for fireworks (and she plays her own excellent cadenzas both here and in the Beethoven), what stays most in the mind is her beautiful singing tone. It's the sort of sound that Beethoven must have had in mind when he wrote--as he so often did--"cantabile", and it makes both slow movements particularly memorable. Both here and in the Beethoven, however, I can imagine a bit more muscle in the first movements, a touch more oomph from trumpets and drums, and more fire in the Beethoven finale (the Clement strikes me as just about perfect). José Serebrier is one with Pine in adopting her highly lyrical, somewhat dreamy approach, though it's to both artists' credit that the music never bogs down or turns self-indulgent.

As we heard in Pine's previous, superb coupling of Brahms and Joachim concertos, the sonics are ideally warm and natural, and Cedille offers this set at two discs for the price of one (85 minutes of music in all). I would dearly love to give this release a highest rating simply for the discovery of the Clement, which every violin lover should hear both for its historical and real musical interest; but competition in the Beethoven concerto is just too stiff. Then again, no other label or violinist offers such an attractive and innovative coupling. So buy for the Clement, and consider the Beethoven a very serious bonus.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The reputation of Franz Clement (1780–1842) has come down to posterity on the two legs of his having been the dedicatee and first performer of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and of his having performed, between the first and second movement, a composition of his own devising, on the violin turned upside down (a “myth” that Clive Brown, who edited his Concerto for publication and has provided Çedille’s notes, puts to rest: the program mentions this trick having taken place during the program’s other half). The triviality of the one underpinning of his reputation balances the other half somewhat unfavorably. The emergence of his Violin Concerto in D Major therefore sheds new direct light on Clement as a composer, indirect light on Clement as a violinist, and lots of light of both kinds on Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. If some commentators have noted a connection between the style of writing for the violin in Beethoven’s Concerto and that of Giovanni Battista Viotti, the precise nature of that connection will almost certainly be reexamined as Clement’s Concerto becomes more familiar. Moments in the first movement will seem like déjà vu, even for those only passingly familiar with Beethoven’s Concerto, although similarities with Viotti’s détaché still abound. That first movement, although it’s marked Allegro maestoso, may lack Beethoven’s high moral seriousness and monumentality, but in the self-confident strutting of its first movement and in the cheerful gaiety of its finale (with solo passages erupting suddenly from the orchestral texture, as in Beethoven’s work), it is still obviously a country cousin, not at all unrelated. Brown notes that the two composers employed the same instrumentation (although not throughout). That might account for some of the similarity in sound; but the interrelationships penetrate farther below the surface, and aren’t limited to a few passages that might be taken as echoes. Clement’s second movement, longer than Beethoven’s, engages in rapid passagework in its central section. In eschewing outright display, Clement’s Concerto seems less like a violinist’s virtuoso showpiece than a forerunner of the symphonic concertos that would dominate so many pianists’ concerto-writing for the violin.

Rachel Barton Pine plays this newly published Concerto with an aplomb equal to its own, drawing a consistently strong and attractive tone from the 1742 ex-Soldat Guarneri del Gesù, a tone that the engineers have set a bit in front of the orchestral mass, without disturbing the overall still balance. Her own boldly violinistic cadenzas enhance the first movement especially, and also the finale (a Rondo, like Beethoven’s), although some might find that cadenza somewhat long for its context. However much light Clement’s Concerto may shed, then, on Beethoven’s, it’s attractive enough to hold the stage on its own, especially in a performance as convincing as Pine’s, with enthusiastic collaboration of Serebrier and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Pine and Serebrier change gears for Beethoven’s Concerto, in which the same instrumentation sounds more massive and similar passages for the violin more like definitive statements. Serebrier seems to make fairly frequent rhetorical micro-pauses in the tuttis and to energize their already stormy majesty. Pine plays the first movement with a lyricism that complements Serebrier’s more brooding orchestral pronouncements. (A related balance of musical ideas may be heard in Vadim Repin’s performance with Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic, 31:4.) Once again, Pine provides her own cadenza, in this case a long, sonorous, technically complex, and by the standards of the later 19th century, an idiomatic one. She’s also written a brief, transitional one between the second and third movements and an ingenious, more developed one for the finale, which she plays with aplomb. If Pine’s performance of Beethoven’s Concerto lacks the drive of Heifetz’s, the geniality of Francescatti’s, the nobility of Milstein’s, or the convincing rhetoric of Stern’s, it nevertheless offers mellifluous, sweet-toned violin-playing and thoughtful musicianship throughout.

For those who know Beethoven’s Concerto well, and for those who wish to explore its origins, the combination of these two Classical concertos should prove well nigh irresistible. Recommended.

-- Robert Maxham, Fanfare

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine, “an exciting, boundary-defying performer” (Washington Post) known for her “bravura technique and soulful musicianship” (New York Times), headlines a groundbreaking album of blues-influenced classical works for violin and violin and piano by 20th and 21st century composers of African descent.

World-premiere recordings include Noel Da Costa’s ‘A Set of Dance Tunes for Solo Violin,’ based on American fiddle tunes; Daniel Bernhard Roumain’s ‘Filter,’ which conjures the sounds of electronic dance music and psychedelic guitar; Errollyn Wallen’s ‘Woogie Boogie,’ a humorous and inventive reimaging of the boogie woogie blues dance; and Billy Childs’s ‘Incident,’ a single-movement violin sonata / tone poem written as a response to a fatal shooting by police. Another premiere is Wendall Logan’s violin and piano arrangement of Duke Ellington’s 1935 composition, ‘In a Sentimental Mood.’ The album’s title track, Dolores White’s improvisational ‘Blues Dialogues,’ draws on classical, jazz, and country music, as well as African-American vocalizations and a blues harmonic language. David N. Baker’s gospel-tinged ‘Blues (Deliver My Soul)’ evokes the ecstatic energy of a Black church service. Charles S. Brown’s ‘A Song Without Words’ was inspired by bottleneck guitar player and gospel blues master Blind Willie Johnson. Each movement of William Grant Still’s ‘Suite for Violin and Piano’ evokes the work of a different African-American visual artist. Clarence Cameron White’s ‘Levee Dance, Op. 26, No. 2,’ a favorite of violin virtuoso Jascha Heifetz, surrounds a traditional African-American spiritual with a playful, syncopated dance. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s ‘Blue/s Forms’ and ‘Louisiana Blues Strut’ befit a composer with a legacy of achievements in the classical, jazz, modern dance, and pop music worlds.

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REVIEWS:

What a fascinating, beautiful disc… The disc’s title is valid: these really are ‘dialogues’ in the most creative and stimulating sense…Need it be said that Pine plays everything here gloriously… Listen to how unaffectedly she outlines the melody of Still’s central slow movement. In passages of virtuoso display, she’s as sure-footed and as agile as an acrobat.

– Gramophone

This is a superb CD, clearly one of Barton Pine’s real masterpieces. Highly recommended to any other classical violinist who wants to tackle these works, and listeners who enjoy jazz and blues-influenced classical music.

– The Art Music Lounge

This is an amazing disc. Barton Pine and partner Matthew Hagle are to be commended for such a thoughtful, gracious, and inspiring program, recorded in Cedille’s typical robust and clear sound.

– Audiophile Audition

VIOLIN LULLABIES • Rachel Barton Pine (vn); Matthew Hagle (pn) • ÇEDILLE 90000 139 (68:35)

BRAHMS Wiegenlied. YSAŸE Rêve d’enfant. REBIKOV Berceuse. BEACH Berceuse No 2. SCHWAB Berceuse Ecossaise. RESPIGHI Berceuse. GERSHWIN Summertime. FALLA Nana. FAURÉ Berceuse. SIBELIUS Berceuse No. 6. VIARDOT-GARCIA Berceuse No. 3. HOVHANNES Oror. STRAVINSKY Firebird: Berceuse. RAVEL Berceuse sur le Nom de Fauré. CLARKE Lullaby. SCHUBERT Wiegenlied. SCHUMANN Cradle Song. DUROSOIR Berceuse No. 4. GRIEG Berceuse. ANTSEV Au Berceau. R. STRAUSS Wiegenlied. SIVORI Berceuse. BERAUD Petite Reine Berceuse. STILL Mother and Child. REGER Wiegenlied

What a beautiful recording this is! It fills a real need as well. A mother or father can put this recording on and relax listening to its clear and present sound while feeding and bonding with the baby. This album also gives us a chance to see how composers from different cultures and different eras handled this particular type of composition. The CD opens with the universally loved Brahms Lullaby , which Rachel Barton Pine says her mother sang to her. You may have had the same experience. Mine sang it to me in German. Johannes Brahms wrote his Wiegenlied or Cradle Song in 1868 to celebrate the birth of a second son to his Viennese friends Arthur and Bertha Faber. Eugène Ysaÿe wrote his Rêve d’Enfant for his own son, Antoine, who would later be his father’s biographer and publisher. In 1913, he actually recorded it, too, at a very slow tempo. Pine and Hagle play the Ysaÿe and Brahms pieces at moderate tempos and with great delicacy of tone. Their notes fall as gently as rose petals. Vladimir Rebikov is a little known composer whose music leads into the compositions of Debussy, Scriabin, and even Stravinsky. Pine plays Amy Beach’s Berceuse (lullaby) using a warm toned mute that evokes daydreams. Listening to her play it is a calming antidote to everyday stress. Ludwig Schwab’s lullaby clothes the baby in an aural tartan coverlet as Pine and Hagle play the composer’s version of a Scottish tune. Pine also renders Respighi’s long-lined melody with a warm-toned mute while Hagle plays the piano part with the fleetest of fingers. We all know the tune of George Gershwin’s Summertime, but Pine gives us her own fascinating take on it. Pine uses a mute with a rather mysterious tone for Manuel de Falla’s Spanish Nana. Its words, “Sleep little star of the morning,” might hit a familiar note with parents! Gabriel Fauré’s pastel tones and Jean Sibelius’s charming melody bring us back to cooler lands and sweet invitations to slumber. Research shows that neither Rebecca Clarke nor Amy Beach had children, so of the women composers represented here only the famous singer and pianist Pauline Viardot-Garcia could have sung her lullaby to her own baby. The music of Alan Hovhaness always had a hint of mystery and this early lullaby is no exception. Pine and Hagle play it smoothly, so that its inventive harmonies fascinate the ear. The Firebird is a ballet based on a folk tale about a magical creature that sings at night and pecks at golden fruit. Its eloquent music spices up the middle of this disc with its unique harmonies.

Maurice Ravel’s music envelopes the listener in its gossamer fabric and its colors dance in the air. Rebecca Clarke was a violist and her contribution makes use of the violin’s lower strings. The delicate radiance of Pine’s rendition holds the listener in thrall. Like the Brahms, Schubert’s Cradle Song is a familiar tune. Here it is rendered in flawless form complete with gorgeous double-stopping. The Schumann Slumber Song is one of his lesser-known pieces. Like the Durosoir that follows, it massages the ears. So do the charming Grieg and Antsev pieces. I hope we get to hear more of the latter’s music. Pine and Hagle’s version of Richard Strauss’s Cradle Song strikes a delicate balance between lullaby and concert aria. Like Respighi, Camillo Sivori wrote his music with the long lines of bel canto and topped it off with a challenging finale that Pine tosses off with ease. Victor Beraud is the pen name of British composer G. Frank Blackbourne. He wrote his Lullaby for a Little Queen for piano. Edward Elgar then arranged it for violin and piano. African-American composer William Grant Still wrote his warm toned and inviting yet intense Mother and Child in 1943. Max Reger’s Cradle Song , a dreamy invitation to sleep, shows a very different side of his creativity. In addition to the music on this CD, there is a download available with three more lullabies: Alexander Iljinsky’s Berceuse No. 7 from the opera Noure and Anitra, Xavier Montsalvatge’s Nana, and Betty King Jackson’s Lullaby. These three show the variety of cultures that lullabies cover. Pine and Hagle play each of them idiomatically with great attention to detail and the ultimate in musical values. This is a truly beautiful disc and I think it will have great appeal to our readers.

FANFARE: Maria Nockin

The viola d’amore is a curious beast. It has extra strings (like the baryton) that exist for no purpose other than to provide resonance, producing a fuzzy timbral halo that sweetens the slightly nasal, husky tone of the instrument, rather like a sort of mild continuous vibrato. When played with perfect intonation such as we might expect from Rachel Barton Pine, the result is captivatingly mellow and expressive, even in virtuoso passages. Vivaldi composed eight concertos for viola d’amore, and here they all are, smartly gathered together and performed to the hilt.

Although Vivaldi limited himself tonally in these works (to D, F, and A, with four in D minor), the instrument’s unusual tunings, combined with inventive scoring, ensure variety and contrast. The Concerto in F major pits the viola d’amore against a wind ensemble of oboes, horns, and bassoon, with the oboes and horns muted. I’m not sure what a muted baroque oboe is, but they sound lovely here and the horns also never turn gnarly–they really do complement the timbre of the viola d’amore. There’s also a double concerto, RV 540, for viola d’amore and lute, with the superb Hopkinson Smith on hand to partner Barton Pine.

The players of Ars Antigua accompany with evident relish, although as usual with today’s period instrument groups the strings could use some natural vibrato in the slow movements. Leaving it out or minimizing it the way they do is neither stylish nor “authentic”, but when the playing itself is so pointed and in tune it matters very little. The fact that the sonics are drop-dead gorgeous and the balances absolutely perfect also counts for a lot. If you thought that Vivaldi all sounds the same, consider this release as a welcome corrective.

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

Handel’’s one act opera-ballet Terpsichore (1734) is followed by the ballets sequences from his 1735 opera seria, Ariodante. Leading baroque conductor James Richman founded the NYC-based Concert Royal in 1974 and remains its Artistic Director. About soprano Ava Pine: “…perfect balance of passion and intellect…a voice of natural beauty and flexibility” – D Magazine (Dallas, TX) About mezzo Kirsten Sollek: …an appealingly rich alto” – NYTimes; “…elemental tone quality.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, critically acclaimed artists of interntional renown- and also close friends- record together for the first time on this album of J.S. Bach’s complete sonatas for violin and harpsichord. The artists approach these works as Bach intended: as trio sonatas with equally important roles for the violin and the harpsichord’s treble and bass lines. In addition to the six Sonatas, the album offers the remarkable and ravishingly poetic Cantabile, BWV 1019a, a free-standing work that Bach originally conceived as a movement of the Sonata, BWV 1019. Cedille’s audiophile engineering and the intimate acoustics of Evanston, Illinois’s Nichols Hall allow the complex trio textures to blossom with detail. In all, the album sets a new standard for a body of work that Bach’s son, CPE, considered among his father’s finest compositions. Rachel Barton Pine is a Billboard chart-topping artist. Her 2016 album ‘Testament,’ comprising JS Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin entered the Billboard Classical Chart in the No. 1 position, as did her 2013 Cedille album ‘Violin Lullabies.’ Making his Cedille label debut, Vinikour received Grammy Award nominations in the category of Best Solo Instrumental Recording for his 2013 album of modern American music for harpsichord and his 2012 release of Rameau’s complete harpsichord works.

From start to finish, I was absolutely mesmerized by this CD. There isn’t a really weak link among the 14 pieces, and Barton Pine’s prowess as a violinist has, I think, never been more boldly or excitingly displayed.



CAPRICHO LATINO • Rachel Barton Pine (vn); 1 Héctor Elizondo (narr) • ÇEDILLE 125 (79:41)


ALBÉNIZ Asturias (Leyenda). CORDERO Rapsodia Panameña. TRADITIONAL Balada Española. ESPÉJO Prélude Ibérique. QUIROGA Emigrantes Celtas. Terra!! Á Nosa!! YSAŸE Sonata No. 6. GONZÁLEZ Epitalamio Tanguero. J. WHITE Etude No. 6. TARREGA Recuerdos de la Alhambra. RODRIGO Capriccio. SEREBRIER Aires de Tango. PIAZZOLLA Tango Etude No. 3 con Libertango. 1 RIDOUT Ferdinand the Bull


I was at a bit of a disadvantage in reviewing this CD as the promo copy I received had track listings by the composers’ last names but no identifiers of the works or composers’ first names and dates. Of course, I knew who Albéniz, Ysaÿe, Rodrigo, Serebrier, and Piazzolla were, but the only two pieces I recognized by ear were the Albéniz Asturias and Rodrigo’s Capriccio (though I’d forgotten the title of the latter). A few days later I received a full track listing but no liner notes, yet I noticed that the Serebrier piece was dedicated to Rachel Barton Pine, and the González to both Rachel and her husband, Greg.


Despite the confusion, I enjoyed the CD immensely. Judging from her other CDs I’ve listened to after this (Handel sonatas, Instrument of the Devil, and Violin Concertos by Black Composers ), Barton Pine’s style tends more toward the lyric than the dramatic, but her playing here is very dramatic indeed, with sharp attacks, cleanly articulated pizzicato, and impeccable turns. One thing that surprised me was the rich, dark quality of her tone, almost viola-like in places. I would describe it (not negatively) as a “junior Oistrakh.” Every note in her range has a full, rich sound at every dynamic level and, aside from those moments when she is purposely vehement, her bowing is never rough.


Despite the extreme challenges of doing an entire CD unaccompanied, Barton Pine never lets up in creating a rhythmic underpinning for herself. I assume that Roque Cordero’s Rapsodia Panameña is based on different folk music and rhythms than the Panamanian music that reached our shores in the early 20th century, as those were essentially in habanera rhythm and this piece is not. Of course, since Cordero was a late 20th-century composer, the language has elements of bitonality throughout, and there are very quick changes from short but intense lyrical passages to rhythmic outbursts and back, but the piece holds together very well indeed. Jesus Florido’s arrangement of a traditional Spanish ballad consists of almost continual contrapuntal 16ths in which the violinist must emphasize the melody without sacrificing cleanliness of attack. César Espéjo’s Prélude Ibérique, written for Szeryng, has a very similar style though the tonal base is less spiky, and there is a long passage in 16ths that is exciting but more in the nature of a continuous melody than rhythmic accompaniment.


Manuel Quiroga, also known as Quiroga Losada, is the only composer represented by more than one work: a passionate lament in C Minor ( Emigrantes Celtas ), punctuated by short, staccato stabs; and a fiery, rhythmic piece in Terra!! Á Nosa!! which, at times, resembles a Celtic tune in melody and construction. The Ysaÿe sonata—dedicated to Quiroga Losada—has a strong Andalusian flavor. Typically of Ysaÿe, the music is more passionate and evocative of mood than an academic theme-and-devlopment. Later passages of this sonata, using a rhythmic underpinning to the melody, show his knowledge of the unaccompanied partitas of Bach. Compared with this dense piece, the etude by José White sounds almost jolly and simplistic, even repetitive, but nonetheless pleasing. The Serebrier Aires de Tango is really something, feeding into Barton Pine’s reputation for having one of the best staccato techniques on earth, but if anything her transcription of Piazzolla’s Tango Etude is even wilder, and in fact practically steals the show. Those who remember the Disney version of Ferdinand, the Bull with the Delicate Ego will not necessarily like all of Alan Rideout’s more modern version, but it’s a very amusing piece. Héctor Elizondo has a somewhat hoarse speaking voice, but is an interesting and whimsical narrator.


Bottom line: From start to finish, I was absolutely mesmerized by this CD. There isn’t a really weak link among the 14 pieces, and Barton Pine’s prowess as a violinist has, I think, never been more boldly or excitingly displayed.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Like her previous album for Cedille, which paired concertos by Brahms and Joachim, everything about this release by violinist Rachel Barton Pine is exceptional, from the selection of couplings to the performances themselves. In the first place, it's wonderful to see a program built around concert pieces for violin and orchestra based on Scottish themes, since this permits a new view of an old chestnut and some welcome attention given to worthy but neglected repertoire. The chestnut in question is Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, a marvelous work seldom played or recorded today, but one that is more substantial in length and in may ways more imaginative in content than the ever-popular Violin Concerto No. 1, with which it is sometimes mated on disc.


For this performance, Barton Pine has consulted Scottish fiddler and folk-music authority Alasdair Fraser for some stylistic pointers on an authentic inflection of the tunes that Bruch borrowed for his work. The result is a tastefully ornamented solo line, most obviously in the slower music (check out the opening of the third-movement Andante sostenuto). This is not, I hasten to add, a case of tarting up the music in a garish or unidiomatic fashion. On the contrary, Barton Pine is acutely sensitive to Bruch's actual text, paying particularly close attention to dynamics and articulation (her soft playing in both the opening adagio and the andante is exquisite). The addition of some melodic turns and grace notes simply enhances the natural expressiveness of the melodies themselves, a quality heightened by Barton Pine's smooth, singing tone.


In rapid passages, her technique is perfectly secure, with multiple stops and octaves always in tune, and her sensitivity to the what is happening in the orchestra is second to none. The charming duet between violin and flute in the scherzo, for example, seldom has sounded better balanced or more effortless. The violinist is helped considerably by the excellent accompaniments provided by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Alexander Platt, which are notably refined and transparent but also offer plenty of the necessary rhythmic energy where called for (and to be honest, Bruch doesn't ask for much--it's mostly a gentle, lyrical piece).


The proceedings take on a bit more earthy vigor in the couplings. Mackenzie's Pibroch Suite is a marvelous and very substantial work (23 minutes) that ought to be better known. It has been recorded before, most recently by Hyperion, in a fine performance that Barton Pine betters by a slim margin, finding a bit more poetry in the opening Rhapsody and digging in for some extra character in the marvelous concluding Dance. McEwen's Scottish Rhapsody "Prince Charlie" evidently is new to CD, and it's equally enjoyable. What a pity that some enterprising violinist doesn't make a live program of some of the excellent short works for violin and orchestra that seem to exist these days only on disc! Sarasate's Airs ecossais is another gem whose technical fireworks Barton Pine handles with aplomb.


Closing out the disc is a Medley of Scots Tunes, selected and arranged for dueling violinists by Barton Pine and Fraser and expertly scored for orchestra by Barton Pine alone. The melodies, as might be expected, are wholly delightful, and the performance absolutely brilliant, bringing the program to a rousing conclusion. All together, you get more than 80 minutes of music on two CDs for the price of one, including a video documentary on how the project came together. I did not watch it, as the quality of the music-making speaks for itself, but others may be more interested in the visual element than I am. In sum, this collaboration between Barton Pine, Fraser, Platt, and the SCO is a triumph on all counts, a model of what a themed release ought to be, and it's all captured in demonstration-quality sound by Cedille's engineers. Without a doubt, this is one of the smartest and most purely lovable releases of the year. [7/16/2005]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in e. SCHUMANN Violin Concerto. BEETHOVEN Romances Nos. 1 and 2 • Rachel Barton Pine (vn); Christoph-Mathias Mueller, cond; Göttinger SO • CEDILLE 90000144 (71:20)

Rachel Barton Pine’s new release on Cedille Records contains a pairing of the violin concertos by Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann, plus the two short Romances by Ludwig van Beethoven. When Mendelssohn became Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1835, he made his friend Ferdinand David the concertmaster. In a letter dated July 30, 1838, Mendelssohn wrote to him: “I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor runs through my head, the beginning of which gives me no peace.” He worked on it for six years, during which he kept up a regular correspondence about it with the violinist. David premiered it with his orchestra in1845, the last year of the composer’s life.


Barton Pine plays this most familiar piece with quite a distinctive interpretation. Her first movement is light, fast, and dripping with passion. She lets you know she is enjoying the pace as she rises to the challenge. Her blazing bow work and perfectly intoned notes are always impeccably smooth as the fingers of her left hand fly through the movement with seeming ease. The imaginative phrasing of her expressive Andante soars over the orchestra with limpid, poignant beauty. She plays the beginning of the third movement with ardor and the wonderful Finale marked Allegro molto vivace with amazing artistry and technique. As we all know, the most renowned violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries have recorded it so the competition is fierce. Joshua Bell recorded the Concerto for Sony in 2002 with Roger Norrington and the Camerata Salzburg. His performance is tasteful and inviting, but I think it lacks some of Barton Pine’s intensity and excitement. Recording in 1995 on Deutsche Grammophon, Anne Sophie Mutter plays beautifully, but her interpretation lacks some of the individual flair and drama heard on the Cedille disc. A more recent release is Alina Ibragimova’s Hyperion recording, a historically informed performance of the Concerto with Vladimir Jurowski and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Her playing is exciting but she does not have Barton Pine’s depth of understanding. Reaching back into history, there are some great performances by artists such as Henryk Szeryng, but their sound is nowhere near the present state of the art.


Like the Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann’s Concerto has many renditions despite its difficult birth. Although Clara Schumann, Joseph Joachim, and Johannes Brahms consigned it to a shelf, by now it has earned a place in the hearts of the music-loving public. Barton Pine plays it with a deep emotional commitment that is palpable throughout her performance. Henryk Szeryng plays it together with the Mendelssohn Concerto on a Mercury Living Presence CD released in 1994. On a Teldec disc, also released in 1994, Gidon Kremer’s rendition of the Violin Concerto is paired with Martha Argerich’s interpretation of Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Known for his individualism, Kremer plays the first and third movements much slower and with greater deliberation than Barton Pine, but his second movement is faster. Barton Pine’s first two movements are slower than Szeryng’s, but she plays the finale faster than either Szeryng or Kremer. All of that pales in comparison to these fine artists’ interpretation of this great but much maligned work. With her judicious use of rubato and a tasteful interpretation, Barton Pine has put her indelible stamp on the Schumann. She has come to love it intensely and she is teaching her fans to love it as well.


The two Beethoven Romances are a charming addition to this excellent disc. Since one is placed between the concertos and the other is at the very end, they add moments of contemplation that allow the listener to fully absorb the untrammelled joy of the Mendelssohn and the deeply compelling lyricism of the Schumann. Christoph-Mathias Mueller and the Göttinger Symphonie of Lower Saxony give stellar performances of the orchestral parts of each work. Except for one slightly muddy note at the very end of the Mendelssohn, the sound on this Cedille recording is brimming with life and it allows you to feel as if seated in the 10th row center of a fine concert hall. I heartily recommend this delightful recording.

FANFARE: Maria Nockin

Includes work(s) by various composers, Henry Thacker Burleigh, Henry Holden Huss. Soloists: Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle.

Best-selling American violinist Rachel Barton Pine, whose previous release went straight to #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart, debuts on AVIE with a survey of Mozart’s complete Violin Concertos and the Sinfonia Concertante, in which she introduces the extraordinarily talented young violist Matthew Lipman. Her orchestra is none other than the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by their legendary founder, Sir Neville Marriner.

The quality of her playing is as fine as ever and she performs with all her usual authority and skill.

Traditional folk music elevated to high art: that theme binds the unique coupling of Billboard chart-topping violinist Rachel Barton Pine’s latest release of the Violin Concertos by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak and Soviet-Armenian Aram Khachaturian. The multi-faceted young American Teddy Abrams conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, making for a truly international collaboration. “There are few more interesting violinists on the worldwide scene than Rachel Barton Pine; she is continuously giving us interesting and well-researched and thought-out concept albums that stimulate the imagination, reinvigorate the ears, and put wrinkles in the brain with their intellectual depth.” (Audiophile Audition)

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REVIEW:

Barton Pine's fusion of rock-solid yet scintillating technique is allied to brilliant musicianship as well as intelligent and stimulating programming. The quality of her playing is as fine as ever and she performs with all her usual authority and skill.

– MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Billboard chart-topping violinist Rachel Barton Pine releases her 36th album and fourth for AVIE with her first recordings of two repertory staples, violin concertos by Edward Elgar and Max Bruch. The two works – Elgar’s only concerto for violin and Bruch’s first – straddle the turn of the 20th century but have in common a Romantic hue which Rachel probes with her rich, soulful tone.

The album is dedicated to “the memory of a musical hero and generous friend, Sir Neville Marriner,” who was to have reunited with Rachel on this album. She was fortunate to work with him on the scores, with Sir Neville vividly relating accounts of his teacher Billy Reed, former leader of the London Symphony Orchestra, who collaborated with Elgar on the creation of his violin concerto. Grammy Award-winning conductor Andrew Litton brings his own Romantic pedigree to the recording, as does the BBC Symphony Orchestra and celebrated producer Andrew Keener who himself has overseen award winning versions of the Elgar and Bruch concertos.

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REVIEW:

Pine’s interpretation of the Elgar is as emotionally satisfying as it is dazzling. The slow movement is mysteriously veiled and luminous, providing a palpable sense of the music’s darker undercurrents. She is most impressive, perhaps, in the finale, where her easy virtuosity sends sparks flying, though never at the expense of the long line.

Her performance of the Bruch is wholly persuasive in its mittel-European heartiness. The outer movements abound with snap and spice, and the Adagio has a warm solemnity that, one might argue, offers a foretaste of Elgarian nobilmente. The recorded sound is glorious, with a near-ideal balance between soloist and orchestra.

– Gramophone

The album also contains additional tracks by Francois Couperin that are identified by generic Baroque era dance titles without specific details: Allemande, Sarabande, Sicilenne, Gavotte.