Violinist performs all five Mozart violin concertos Saturday
Details
Who: Violinist Rachel Barton Pine plays all five of Mozart’s violin concertos; a 7 p.m. talk with Mondavi Center executive director Don Roth precedes the concert
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis
Tickets: $35-$72 general, $17.50-$36 students; www.mondaviarts.org; (530) 754-2787
Violinist Rachel Barton Pine — a performer who enjoys venturing into unusual musical territory — has set herself an interesting task. On Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Mondavi Center, she’ll play the complete Mozart violin concerti in a single evening, accompanied by the Chamber Soloists Orchestra of New York.
“This season is the first time I’ve done such a thing — all five of them in one night,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anyone else doing it.”
She’s done similar cycles in the past.
“I’ve done the six Bach violin partitias in a single concert, and also the 24 Paganini caprices together in an evening,” Pine said. “Doing this to show off that you can do it is not a good idea. But if you’re doing it to give deeper insight into each of the works by doing them together, rather than listening to them in isolation, so that you can hear how the composer’s writing progressed — that’s good.”
It is certainly possible to fit the five Mozart violin concertos into a single sitting — they are all about 20 to 30 minutes in length.
“He wrote them when he was in his late teens,” Pine explained. “They’re technically challenging, though not as advanced as the most virtuosic stuff that was coming from Italy and France at that time. But the interplay between the violin and the orchestra is extraordinary.
“It’s enlightening to hear the entire cycle,” Pine added. ”There’s a joyfulness that comes through, not the kind of sturm und drang that you get in the later concertos. These are all in major keys, which is why some people say they’re not as mature. But they’re sophisticated and they’re also happy — and there’s nothing wrong with that!”
“There are a lot of operatic influences. You can almost hear dialog, ’see’ the characters coming in and out, and a plot happening.”
And with the Mozart concertos, “I am playing continuously the entire time. In your big Romantic-era concertos (by other composers, decades later), there is a conductor, and the orchestra plays their thing, then I play my thing, then they accompany me.
“But in Mozart’s day, they didn’t use a conductor — didn’t need a guy with a stick. The soloist would play, leading the others. I believe that approach brings the music most fully to life. It’s a very collegial approach. It gives the texture that Mozart intended.”
Pine is unusual in that she ventures into so many realms with her recordings. She’s done big late 19th century warhorses, including concertos by Glazunov and Brahms. She’s recorded an album of music by black composers, who lived in France and in this country.
She’s done early music with her chamber group Trio Settecento, using a gut-strung violin in the period instrument style — including albums focusing on music from Germany, Italy, England, and most recently France (“A French Soirée,” released on the Cedille label last November).
She’s also recorded the flashy, scorching virtuoso showpieces of the Romantic era — music that invokes infernal themes by Paganini, Tartini and the like. Her album “Instrument of the Devil” features a cover photo of Barton, with a knowing look on her face, dressed in a black, hooded robe, standing by a flaming violin.
And then there are the recordings with her heavy metal band, Earthen Grave. Pine uses an electric violin in thunderous versions of songs made famous by Metallica, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and others. And she dresses the part for these concerts: black leather and studs.
“I have been a big rock fan since I was 10,” she says unabashedly. “But it never occured to me to play rock on my instrument until I was 20. Performing in front of rock audiences has made me a better communicator.
“When you are doing a Mozart concert, people are going to stay in their seats and applaud at the end. But the rock audience comes closer to the stage, you can tell in an instant how ‘into the music’ they are. That type of feeback is great.”
And on certain rare days, Pine will put the various phases of her career together. On one occasion in Chicago, she performed a set of baroque chamber works with Trio Settecento, followed by a Romantic concerto with an orchestra, followed by a head-banging set with Earthen Grave.
“That was an awesome concert. Some of the classical fans who came to hear the Tchaikovsky stayed to hear my metal band, and some of the metal fans came early and heard the orchestra,” she said. “It was a great night for breaking down barriers and showing that good music is good music.”
Pine is schedule to play Mozart — and nothing but Mozart — at Mondavi. Tickets are $35-$72 general, $17.50-$36 students, www.mondaviarts.org or (530) 754-2787.
Preceding the 8 p.m. concert will be a 7 p.m. talk, with Pine conversing with Mondavi Center executive director Don Roth.
— Reach Jeff Hudson at jhudson@davisenterprise.net or (530) 747-8055.
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Posted by Jeff Hudson
on Jan 31 2012.
Last Login: Sat 19 May 2012 11:40:19 AM PDT
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