Antonín Dvořák; Aram Khachaturian - Violin Concertos (Rachel Barton Pine)

Information

Composer: Antonín Dvořák; Aram Khachaturian

• Dvořák - Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53
• Khachaturian - Violin Concerto

Rachel Barton Pine, violin

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Teddy Abrams, conductor

Date: 2019

Label: Avie

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Review

I wasn’t expecting Rachel Barton Pine to be such a persuasive advocate for Khachaturian’s much-maligned Violin Concerto. She’s not a flashy player, and – let’s face it – this is one of the flashiest of concertos. Instead, her success here comes from purely her musicianship, which is utterly unaffected. There are no virtuoso tricks, no swooping, swooning or mooning; she just plays it honestly. Yet unlike, say, James Ehnes (Onyx, 7/14), who takes a rather serious view, Pine seems to be having quite a lot of fun. The first movement is high-spirited, and she proves herself to be an expert storyteller, particularly in the expansive cadenza (she chooses David Oistrakh’s extended solo over the composer’s own), where she carries the narrative forwards with assurance without skimping on colourful detail. There’s a Sheherazade-like character to her playing of the slow movement, too, with its easy balance of strength and vulnerability. Although her tone is more wiry than silky, she conveys an alluring intimacy – try starting around 8'10" for an especially moving example. And she handles the intricate figuration of the boisterous finale with aplomb, holding fast to the basic tempo while phrasing patiently in long, eloquently phrased paragraphs.

These same unimpeachable qualities imbue Pine’s performance of Dvořák’s A minor Concerto. I love how she emphasises the constant pull towards the lyrical in the opening Allegro ma non troppo, so that emphatic gestures nearly always seem to culminate inwards. This is, after all, how the movement itself ends, melting into the Adagio ma non troppo, and the violinist makes the transitional passage at 10'29" (marked Quasi moderato) memorably soulful. I do occasionally long for the tonal twang and rhythmic flair of the Czech Philharmonic under Ančerl in the classic recording with Josef Suk (Supraphon, 5/62), especially in the rollicking finale, but in general the Royal Scottish National Orchestra play with rhythmic vitality and expressive warmth under Teddy Abrams’s direction – and they dig into the Khachaturian with real gusto, too. Very warmly recommended.

— Andrew Farach-Colton

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Antonín Dvořák (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. He was the second Czech composer to achieve worldwide recognition, after Bedřich Smetana. Following Smetana's nationalist example, many of Dvořák's works show the influence of Czech folk music, such as his  two sets of Slavonic Dances, the Symphonic Variations, and the overwhelming majority of his songs. Dvořák wrote in a variety of forms: nine symphonies, ten operas, three concertos, several symphonic poems, serenades for string orchestra and wind ensemble, more than 40 works of chamber music, and piano music.

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Aram Khachaturian (6 June 1903 – 1 May 1978) was a Soviet Armenian composer and conductor. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, he studied at the Gnessin Musical Institute and the Moscow Conservatory with Nikolai Myaskovsky, among others. As a young composer, he was influenced by contemporary Western music, particularly that of Maurice Ravel. In his Symphony No. 1 and later works, this influence was supplanted by a growing appreciation of folk traditions. His other works include Symphonies No. 2 & No. 3, the symphonic suite Masquerade, the ballet Spartacus, concertos, as well as film scores and incidental music.

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Rachel Barton Pine (born October 11, 1974 in Chicago) is an American violinist. She debuted with the Chicago Symphony at age 10, and was the first American and youngest ever gold medal winner of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. Pine tours worldwide as a soloist with prestigious orchestras, has an active recording career, and has run the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation since 2001, which provides services and funding to promote classical music education and performances. Her instruments include the 1742 'ex-Bazzini, Soldat' violin of Guarneri del Gesu and an 1770 instrument of Nicolò Gagliano I.

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