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Rachel Barton Pine - Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries is the WFMT: Featured New Release

Posted: September 15, 2022

Chicago-based violinist Rachel Barton Pine plays 20th-century American composer Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Jonathon Heyward, on her new Cedille Records album Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries.

The new release marks the 25th anniversary of Pine’s pioneering 1997 Violin Concertos by Black Composers of the 18th and 19th Centuries on Cedille.

In addition to Pine’s 2022 recording of the Price concerto, the new album includes reissues of three performances from the earlier program, which Pine recorded with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Encore Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Hege: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 5, No. 2; José White Lafitte’s Violin Concerto in F-sharp minor; and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Romance in G major for Violin and Orchestra (Cedille Records CDR 90000 214).

The 25th anniversary edition substitutes Price’s concerto, recorded in January 2022, for J.J.O., Le Chevalier de Meude-Monpas’ Concerto No. 1 in D major. Recent research indicates the 18th-century French composer probably was not of African descent, Pine writes in her introductory essay, in which she discusses the genesis of the original project and the initiatives it spawned.

The album booklet includes extensive program notes by Mark Clague, who wrote the liner notes for the original recording. Clague is professor of musicology and associate dean at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance in Ann Arbor. The repertoire includes:

JOSEPH BOLOGNE, CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGES (1745–1799)
Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 5, No. 2 (1775) (23:44)
1 Allegro moderato (10:22)
2 Largo (8:35)
3 Rondeau (4:35)
JOSÉ WHITE LAFITTE (1836–1918)
Violin Concerto in F-sharp minor (1864) (21:32)
4 Allegro (11:39)
5 Adagio ma non troppo (4:50)
6 Allegro moderato (4:58)
SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR (1875–1912)
7 Romance in G major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 39 (1899) (12:32)
Encore Chamber Orchestra of the CYSO
Daniel Hege, conductor
FLORENCE PRICE (1887–1953)
8 Violin Concerto No. 2 (1952) (14:42)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Jonathon Heyward, conductor

For September 15, 2022, Rachel Barton Pine: Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'.' WFMT writes…Chicago-based violinist Rachel Barton Pine plays American composer Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Jonathon Heyward, on her new Cedille Records album, Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries. The new release marks the 25th anniversary of Pine’s pioneering 1997 Violin Concertos by Black Composers of the 18th and 19th Centuries on Cedille. In addition to Pine’s 2022 recording of the Price concerto, the new album includes reissues of three performances from the earlier program, which Pine recorded with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Encore Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Hege.