For the Record, Op. 55: Rachel Barton Pine Bach Sonatas Violin/Harpsichord; Blake Pouliot debut album; works by Carl Roskott

May 17, 2018, 11:59 AM · Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening!

J.S. Bach: The Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Jory Vinikour, harpsichord

Bach’s son, C.P.E., considered among his father’s finest compositions: the six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord. Violinist Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist Jory Vinikour record together for the first time on this album of J.S. Bach’s complete sonatas for violin and harpsichord. The album includes the sonatas as well as the Cantabile, BWV 1019a, a freestanding work that Bach originally conceived as a movement of the Sonata, BWV 1019. BELOW: Pine and Vinikour discuss their friendshp and new album.

Ravel & Debussy: Sonates
Blake Pouliot, violin
Hsin-I Huang, piano

Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot, 23, teams up with pianist Hsin-I Huang to perform works by two great French composers of the early 20th century, Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy, in an album that includes each composer's sonata for violin and piano, as well as Ravel's "Tzigane." BELOW: Blake Pouliot and Hsin-I Huang perform Claude Debussy's "Beau Soir":

Carl Roskott: Works for Violin
Akemi Takayama, violin
Silvan Negrutiu, piano
Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra

Carl Roskott was a composer and conductor who served as professor and orchestra director at Northern Illinois University (1980–1991) and the University of Virginia (1991–2005). A graduate of the New England Conservatory and the Peabody School of Music, Roskott was the recipient of two Leonard Bernstein fellowships at Tanglewood, first in composition and later in conducting; he received the Dimitri Mitropoulos Award in 1979. However, his longest affiliation was with the Eastern Music Festival (EMF) in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he spent nearly thirty consecutive summers, first as a student and later as music director of one of two student orchestras there. Roskott received the majority of his composition commissions and premieres at EMF, including both works on the present album. Concerto for Violin Solo and Orchestra, commissioned for EMF’s 25th anniversary, was completed in 1984 and premiered in 1986 with internationally renowned Italian soloist Franco Gulli. He also wrote the Sonata for Violin and Piano there in 1985 for his violinist friend Susan Black. In different ways, both works on this album thwart many of the avant-garde academic doctrines promoted insistently by many of his contemporaries. Roskott writes with an accessible, unique American voice, even as he draws influences from a wide variety of sources, from Mahler to Stravinsky to Appalachian hoedowns. As Roskott once wrote to his mentor Leonard Bernstein: “I don’t care whether a guy uses 12-tone rows, C-major triads, hexachords, no chords, folk songs, no songs, minimalism, 'maximism' — the bottom line is… was this a musical experience I want to have again?" BELOW: Akemi Takayama performs Carl Roskott's Violin Concerto: I. Allegro spirito

If you have a new recording you would like us to consider for inclusion in our Thursday "For the Record" feature, please e-mail Editor Laurie Niles. Be sure to include the name of your album, a link to it and a short description of what it includes.

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