Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Joachim: Violin Concerto: 1st mvmt.: Allegro un poco maestoso
2. Joachim: Violin Concerto: 2nd mvmt.: Romanze: Andante
3. Joachim: Violin Concerto: 3rd mvmt.: Finale alla Zingara: Allegro con spirito

Disc 2:

1. Brahms: Violin Concerto: Allegro non troppo
2. Brahms: Violin Concerto: 1st mvmt. cadenza (by Joachim)
3. Brahms: Violin Concerto: 2nd mvmt.: Adagio
4. Brahms: Violin Concerto: 3rd mvmt.: Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace
5. Cadenza by Rachel Barton-end of 1st mvmt. (Bonus Track)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #265444 in Music
• Released on: 2003-05-27
• Number of discs: 2

Album Description
"This is not only one of the best sounding violin and orchestra recordings ever made, but the entire concept is so smart, so well executed, and so thoughtfully planned that even if it were not so musically stupendous it still would be worthy of your attention." -- ClassicsToday , Disc of the Month June 2003

Nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003. Includes a bonus track of Pine's own cadenza for the end of the first movement of the Brahms concerto. Joseph Joachim (1931-1907) was one of the greatest and most influential violinists of the nineteenth century, and a close friend of Brahms, who wrote his only violin concerto for Joachim. Chicago native Rachel Barton Pine was a child prodigy who began performing in public at age seven. Today she is one of America's most acclaimed violinists.

Fanfare
Cedille's two CDs deserve an urgent recommendation for their extraordinary merit and equally extraordinary appeal.

ClassicsToday.com
Recordings don't get any better than this...Astounding!

Customer Reviews

Extraordinary in every way!
The Brahms Violin Concerto is one of the most over recorded works in the violin repertoire. It is hard to imagine another recording could have anything to add. But this is exactly what Rachel Barton, Carlos Kalmar, and the Chicago Symphony have done.

Barton brings an extremely personal musical voice to the Brahms. In the over 30 recordings of it I own, there is none like it. However, rather than wondering why she does not approach the Brahms like others, I quickly found myself wondering why others have not interpreted it like she does. From her choice of tempi to her phrasing, her concept of the Brahms is grand, aristocratic and expansive. Barton's playing grabs you from her first note and does not let go. Her tone is huge and her coloring and timing exquisite. She gives us two cadenzas, the Joachim (to fit the concept of the album) and her own (very interesting and enjoyable). Chicago Symphony oboist Alex Klein plays a glorious solo to start the second movement and Barton gives the movement probably the most heavenly performance I have ever heard. Her pacing of the third movement is perfect and the flair and excitement she brings is unmatched.

While I had known of the Joachim "Hungarian" Concerto, I had never actually heard it. This is an incredible work full of catchy melodies that left me humming for hours after hearing it. Had Joachim not been so successful as a violinist and teacher, he surely would have left a profound legacy as a composer. His orchestration is masterful. The technical challenges facing the soloist in the Brahms pale in comparison to those of the Joachim. Barton's performances demonstrate that her technique is limitless and her mastery of the violin unsurpassed. Every passage sounds effortless and the musical line is never lost. This is a wonderful concerto, brilliantly performed, that deserves (and will hopefully receive) much wider recognition.

The sound and the balance between soloist and orchestra Cedille Records has achieved on this recording are amazing. I have never heard better. The Chicago Symphony is in top form. Kalmar shapes the tuttis beautifully and his accompaniment is sensitive. Barton even writes a great set of program notes.

After a series of very fine, but somewhat niche recordings, this album establishes Barton as solidly in the mainstream. I look forward to hearing her interpretation of other "standard" violin repertoire. If this CD is any indication, she will have a long career at the very top of her profession.

A landmark recording of the two greatest violin concerti....
History is such a fickle judge. Joachim was a truly great musician, whose powers of orchestration were only exceeded in his lifetime time by Wagner, and whose violin skills were the equal of Liszt'z piano mastery. He tutored Brahms in composition and orchestration, and revered Beethoven's struggle to achieve musical form and meaning. This concerto is arguably the most unjustly neglected violin masterpiece of recent history.
With the sensitive musical support of Kalmar and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Rachel Barton has created a performance of the work which must surely be the standard against which any future performance is judged. From the wonderful opening symphonic tutti in a minor key with Hungarian raised fourth, which gives no hint of the supremacy of the soloist to come, the first movement leads into an extraordinary intimate and dreamlike violin entry, right in the middle register of the instrument. This has the effect of reinforcing the initial impression that the work is conceived as symphonic and the violin is integrally partnered with the orchestra. Gradually, the violin establishes itself as the prime instrument, but never fighting against the larger body. The solist is given sustained difficulties which are never shallow displays, rather the direct statement of Joachim's economy of thought to perfectly ornament the structure of this masterwork.
From the purely hedonistic point of view, this is glorious music, sweet and beautiful, full of themes as attractive and memorable as ever you will hear. The second movement is especially beautiful, particularly the second part of the slow movement theme, and the finale is vibrant with drama and deceptive simplicity.
The more I hear this, the more I realise this is the Opus Magnus of the greatest violinist composer of recent times. Brahms violin concerto is a product of the meeting of minds between Joachim and Brahms, an excellent choice to pair with the Hungarian concerto: comparison of Ms Barton's excellent Brahms with other recordings somehow misses the point of this album. This performance of the Brahms is a grand expression indeed, but it is the relationships and differences between the Brahms and the Joachim concerti that are so beatifully illustrated here.The Brahms is "a struggle between violin and orchestra in which the violin wins"; the Joachim is "a striving together between the orchestra and the violin in which the music wins".
What phenomenal technique and musicianship Ms Barton displays here. Let us hope that her contribution to the recorded legacy continues to dazzle us. This album should be in every musician's collection, and would please every listener who loves the sweet sound of the violin.

Lovely indulgent sound, fabulous Joachim concerto!
No question this top-notch violinist produces a fabulous sound. Her own program notes indicate she acquired the use of a historically apposite del Jesu violin for the lovely Joachim concerto. Nobody would be dissatisfied with this performance of the Brahms concerto, which emphasizes expansive and lingering breadth and depth of the phrases. A grand statement. Some might marginally prefer a little more understatement and more pace, such as the Kogan and Milstein versions, which give silvery qualities. Rachel Barton's performance emphasizes the golden honey qualities. However, the real point of this disc is to compare the Brahms and the Joachim concertos, both are pinnacles of composition by lifelong friends. Joseph Joachim is unjustly neglected as a violinist composer. Pehaps his violinist supremacy has obscured the public awareness of his greatness as a composer, whose compositional skills were perhaps only exceeded by Wagner in his lifetime?
The Joachim concerto is extremely interesting, and exciting. Needs to be played at fairly full volume to get the best out of the ravishing sound and the intimate relationship between the orchestra and the violinist, otherwise the soloist seems to fade into the orchestra at times. According to my knowledge of Joachim's legacy, and Ms Barton's program notes, it seems that this intimate quality is desirable in a great performance of this work. Perhaps that is why it has been unjustly neglected by the great virtuosi since Joachim's passing. Anyone notice the mysteriously underappreciated Aaron Rosand, by the way? (Just a passing comment.)
Ms Barton has impressive self-belief, evident in her notes, and her playing.
I love this disc. Buy it and enjoy, you will continue to gain pleasure from the Joachim with every hearing.