NEW RECORDINGS

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine's New Album, "Violin Sonatas, Op. 5"

September 17, 2024

3 MIN READ

Released on Cedille Records, the new album features historically informed interpretations of Corelli’s set of 12 violin sonatas

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine has released her newest album, Corelli: Violin Sonatas, Op. 5 on Cedille Records. She is joined by three period instrument specialists: keyboard player David Schrader, cellist John Mark Rozendaal, and guitarist Brandon Acker. Together, the ensemble offers historically informed performances of the sonatas.

Published in 1700, Corelli’s 12 violin sonatas are foundational in the evolution of both the sonata and concerto forms. For this recording, Rachel and the ensemble used an array of period instruments, each chosen to enhance the expressive nuances of Corelli’s music.

"This album captures so much of what I love about living in the music world: communing with old friends with whom I share a musical 'sixth sense,' being invigorated by our first collaboration with a new colleague, and drawing upon decades of experience with essential repertoire while exploring approaches to it that I’d never tried before," shared Rachel.

To purchase and listen to the album, click here.

Watch the trailer below

“There are a few interesting things to note about the making of this album,” shared Rachel in her notes. “I decided to hold the violin against my chest, rather than on my collarbone in the manner used most frequently by today’s baroque violinists. This decision was inspired by a 2014 article published in Music in Art: Christopher Riedo’s 'How Might Arcangelo Corelli Have Played the Violin?' Citing evidence from engravings, drawings, and written descriptions, Riedo convincingly argues that Corelli held the violin this way.”

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine's repertoire spans from Renaissance masterworks and repertoire from the Classical and Romantic periods to heavy metal-influenced contemporary pieces. As an active philanthropist, Rachel has led the Rachel Barton Pine (RBP) Foundation for over two decades. Since 2001, the RBP Foundation’s Music by Black Composers (MBC) project has collected more than 900 works by 450+ Black composers from the 18th through 21st centuries. MBC curates free repertoire directories on its website and publishes print resources, including pedagogical music books exclusively by global Black classical composers and the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation Coloring Book of Black Composers. She performs on the “ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” Joseph Guarnerius “del Gesù” (Cremona 1742), on a lifetime loan from her anonymous patron.