Another Useful Release from Rachel Barton Pine

Rachel Barton Pine on the cover her her latest album (courtesy of Shuman Public Relations)

It may seem a little out-of-the-ordinary to evaluate the release of a new recording on the basis of “utility.” However, having just reviewed my past articles about violinist Rachel Barton Pine, I realize that I have come away from every encounter with her with the satisfaction of having learned something new. This is definitely the case where her latest release is involved. This is a complete account of the Opus 5 violin sonatas by Arcangelo Corelli, which will be released by Cedille Records this coming Friday. As is so often the case, Amazon.com has already created a Web page for processing pre-orders.

This is one of those collections which is probably best known for only a single track. That is the last of the twelve Opus 5 sonatas, which consists of only a single movement in D minor, a set of variations on the “Folia” theme with a duration of about a dozen minutes. “For the record,” as they say, my last encounter with that sonata was this past December, which violinist Michelle Walther performed as a solo.

Pine, on the other hand, performed each of the twelve sonatas with continuo accompaniment. However, over the course of the full canon, that continuo drew upon different combinations of resources from three instrumentalists: David Schrader (organ and harpsichord), John Mark Rozendaal (cello and viol), and Brandon Acker (theorbo, archlute, and Baroque guitar). This makes for an engaging diversity across the full canon.

Mind you, these sonatas were not composed to be played for an audience one after the other. Nevertheless, we have all those albums of concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach (who occasionally borrowed from Vivaldi), and George Frideric Handel that are casually subjected to beginning-to-end listening, frequently with great satisfaction! Pine has now provided an opportunity for Corelli to take his rightful place within that fold!

It is also worth noting that Pine is no stranger to San Francisco. Sadly, however, she has not visited since March of 2020, when she gave a duo recital with harpsichordist Jory Vinikour for the San Francisco Early Music Society. Now that we have emerged from the pandemic, I am hoping that she will be able to arrange a return visit through at least one of the many ensembles in our area devoted to historically informed performances of pre-classical music!