Violinist Rachel Barton Pine makes her New York recital debut

Rachel Barton Pine made her long overdue New York recital debut this evening at Symphony Space, in a program featuring works by Pisendel, Mendelssohn, Corigliano and Liszt with pianist Matthew Hagle. It was one of the finest recital programs I’ve seen in a very long time.

Barton Pine is a scholarly and perceptive musician who has restored a number of neglected works to the repertoire, but rest assured: boring she is clearly not. She puts rigorous consideration into her approach to a broad spectrum of music (not limited to classical music, by the way – she also plays with phenomenal metal band Earthen Grave). Her interpretive approach to violin repertoire is at times reminiscent of the urbane approach one associates with Kreisler and Gingold — but she also delivers virtuoso pyrotechnics that are unusually nuanced.

She’s found a sympathetic and formidable partner in Hagle. I was impressed by their remarkable musical unanimity, and their remarkable unity and control during striking tempo changes – particularly the fleet accelerandos in the sixteenth-note figurations that grace the opening Allegro vivace of Mendelssohn’s F Major Sonata and the adrenalized tempo shifts in the finale of the Corigliano Sonata. Barton Pine brought out the baroque grandeur of Pisendel’s solo Sonata in a minor, which not only has much in common with his contemporary Bach but a central Allegro that evokes the sound of Northern Italian baroque string works. Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 concluded the program, with Barton Pine and Hagle finding an ideal balance between the concert hall and gypsy camp.

Barton Pine introduced each piece from the stage, combining musical background with her own observations — and providing a few shout-outs to her home town of Chicago, where local classical radio station WFMT was broadcasting and streaming the event live.

Barton Pine and Hagle received sustained and enthusiastic ovations – including uncustomary applause after the first movements of the Mendelssohn and Corigliano, from an audience filled with more than a few well-known New York musicians.

The recital was the third in the newly established New York Chamber Music Festival, which runs through September 20th at Symphony Space. The festival’s executive and artistic director, Elvira Darvarova, and her outstanding team deserve congratulations and gratitude not only for this debut recital coup but a superb lineup of programs. Darvarova is herself an excellent violinist, and she will be performing tomorrow night and Thursday with a number of other superb musicians; the festival concludes Sunday with a recital by cellist Antonio Lysy and pianist Pascal Rogé.

While the rest of the music press in town is obsessing over the opening of the New York Philharmonic season under new music director Alan Gilbert, it’s a sure bet that the attendees at this evening’s recital will tell you the new season is already off to a rousing start.