Rachel Barton Pine: Stepping In With Bruch

July 12, 2022, 9:00 PM · There will be drumrolls at Grant Park tonight during the famous moments in Haydn’s Symphony No. 103. And there will most likely be additional fanfare heralding the heroic entrance of Rachel Barton Pine as violin soloist. Replacing ailing solo percussionist She-e Wu, Ms. Pine will perform Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 on one days’ notice.

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine.

Ms. Pine is becoming quite the step-in. When Midori was indisposed last July, Ms. Pine stepped in to perform Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Chicago Symphony on just three-and-a-half hours’ notice. And a few months earlier, she stepped in for violinist Baiba Skride in Detroit, performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1.

Perhaps that is why Ms. Pine wisely used time during the pandemic to brush up on 24 separate concertos during a project she dubbed #24in24: Concertos From the Inside. In a weekly streaming series, she performed 24 different violin concertos, live and unaccompanied.

It appears, however, the Bruch is never far from Ms. Pine’s fingers, nor her heart. She learned the concerto at age 8, played the final movement with the Chicago Symphony at age 11, and performed the full work in Grant Park in 2016. She went on to record the piece with Andrew Litton and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. It was released in 2018 and dedicated to the memory of Sir Neville Marriner, the conductor originally scheduled to make the recording.

Miss Pine will have one short day to relax after her Bruch performance before she returns to Grant Park on Friday and Saturday nights for her previously-scheduled premiere performances of Billy Childs' Violin Concerto No. 2.

Drumroll, please!

Replies

Becky Chaffee

July 13, 2022 at 01:11 PM · Not only incredible, but what a stunning photo!!

Paul Deck

July 13, 2022 at 07:55 PM · Yeah it's not easy to get good color saturation in a backlit setting. Need a good speedlight. Rachel Barton Pine is such a passionate violinist; I bet her Bruch is amazing.

Sander Marcus

July 13, 2022 at 08:02 PM · Wonderful violinist. Bravo on her willingness to fill in.

Diana Skinner

July 14, 2022 at 02:01 AM · She is fearless and the dress is fabulous!

Joe Gladstone

July 18, 2022 at 02:21 AM · Oh my! That does deserve a drumroll! Literally! (pun intended) One days notice! And again I wish I could have been there to hear the Bruch. Heavenly. I also remember reading here about 24in24. Absolutely amazing!

This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Rachel Barton Pine: Stepping In With Bruch

Replies

Subscribe

Laurie's Books