Brahms & Joachim Violin Concertos
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, conductor
Cedille Records CDR 90000 068
"This is not only one of the best sounding violin and orchestra recordings ever made, but the entire concept is so smart, so well executed, and so thoughtfully planned that even if it were not so musically stupendous it still would be worthy of your attention." (ClassicsToday.com Disc of the Month June 2003)
I have been fascinated with the Brahms Concerto since my earliest violin lessons. I began studying it when I was 14, and it rapidly became a mainstay of my repertoire. It was with the Brahms Concerto that I won several of my international prizes and made many of my debuts in Europe and America. It remains one of the most fulfilling works I perform.
I have been intrigued by Joachim's "Hungarian" Concerto for many years. When I began to study it intensely it seemed a very natural fit, enhanced by two of my professors' strong connections to this music. One of my Chicago teachers, Roland Vamos, shares Joachim's Hungarian Jewish heritage. As a youngster, Dr. Vamos frequently accompanied his father to hear gypsy music in the cabarets of New York's Hungarian section. He even supported himself through college by playing gypsy tunes as a strolling violinist. His stylistic knowledge was an invaluable resource. My teacher in Berlin, Werner Scholz, was a student of Gustav Havemann, who studied with Joachim. I feel fortunate to have gained knowledge about both the Joachim and Brahms Concertos from one so close to the original source. My study of the Brahms was augmented also by reading Joachim's essay in his Violinschule in which he laid out how he felt the Brahms concerto should be played.
The long friendship between Brahms and Joachim enhanced their music and their lives. Friendship has also enhanced the performances on this recording. When I debuted with the Chicago Symphony at age ten, I gushed in a televised interview, "the Chicago Symphony isn't just any old orchestra. It's a great big, super-duper orchestra!" Over the eighteen years and many solo performances that followed, I came to know most members of the orchestra personally. The coaches, mentors, and teachers of my early teens have become chamber music partners, colleagues, and friends. Our history of working together adds a special dimension to the music whenever we collaborate.
I first met Maestro Carlos Kalmar shortly before this recording when we collaborated on the Joachim "Hungarian" Concerto in concerts with Chicago's Grant Park Orchestra. He is an amazing and inspiring musician with a warm personality. I will always be grateful for his musicianship, humor, and energy throughout our two-day recording marathon. He became a kindred musical spirit and a dear friend. I am very excited to be able to share with you these two wonderful concertos.
Rachel Barton Pine
"BRAHMS AND JOACHIM VIOLIN CONCERTOS"
by Rachel Barton Pine
This is the first recording to pair the Brahms Violin Concerto
with the "Hungarian" Concerto by Joachim, inviting a musical
exploration of the close relationship between Joseph Joachim and
Johannes Brahms. When they met in 1853, the twenty-one-year-old
Joachim was already an established violin virtuoso and composer.
The extremely gifted Brahms, two years younger, was virtually unknown.
They quickly became close friends and began a musical interchange
that lasted throughout their lives.
Brahms and Joachim challenged each other constantly, trading counterpoint
exercises along with their correspondence. In 1853, they roomed
together in Göttingen, and Brahms began to study orchestration
with Joachim. Joachim served as a mentor to Brahms, introducing
him to Schumann and other leading musicians of the day. Brahms,
never generous with compliments, praised Joachim's compositions
consistently. Brahms wrote to his friend on February 16, 1855, "…nobody
has wielded Beethoven's pen so powerfully.… I wish you realized
only the half of how much your works absorb me.…" In another
letter he wrote, "there was more in Joachim than in all the
other young composers put together." Brahms considered Joachim
more gifted than himself and always encouraged him - privately and
publicly - to devote himself more fully to composing.
By 1854, Joachim had already made significant progress on his second
violin concerto, Op. 11, "In the Hungarian Style." It
took him nearly six years to complete what became his most famous
and important composition. He dedicated it to Brahms and gave its
premiere in Hanover in 1860. Brahms conducted Joachim in several
performances of the "Hungarian" Concerto and encouraged
his friend to perform it frequently. Many contemporaneous critics
considered it among the greatest works ever written for the violin.
A concert review by Eduard Hanslick for Vienna's Die Frei Presse
on March 11, 1863 described the concerto as " . . . a tone
poem full of mind and spirit, of energy and tenderness that secures
Joachim an extraordinary place among modern composers." In
1894, The Strad pronounced it " . . . one of the greatest masterpieces
of violin music in existence." And in the 20th century, famed
violin pedagogue Carl Flesch (1873-1944) declared in his Memoirs
that the "Hungarian" Concerto "marks a climax in
our literature; it is the most outstanding creation that a violinist
has ever written for his own instrument."
The "Hungarian" Concerto marked a significant departure
from other concertos of the day, which often emphasized technical
display to the detriment of deeper musical content. Joachim frowned
on elaborate pyrotechnical displays, believing that "music
is the purest expression of feeling; only that which is superficial,
unnatural, or self-conscious is foreign to it".1 True to this
belief, every note in the "Hungarian" Concerto serves
a higher purpose. No passage, no matter how difficult, is inserted
for the sake of show. The soloist is never allowed to triumph at
the expense of his or her colleagues.
Nevertheless, Joachim managed to write what has been called the
most difficult work in the repertoire. Renowned for his large hands
and remarkable stamina, Joachim probably gave little thought to
the difficulties presented by the massive chords that stretch and
contort the left hand and challenge the bow arm to produce a full
and sustained tone. Practicing the "Hungarian" Concerto
is like training to run a marathon. Moreover, at over forty-seven
minutes, the Concerto has been called "the longest example
of perfect classical form."2 Any attempt to cut passages (as
some have done) unbalances the architecture and diminishes the piece
significantly.
The first of the concerto's three movements, Allegro un poco maestoso,
is in sonata form with a double exposition and a coda that includes
a lengthy cadenza. The first melody immediately evokes a Hungarian
flavor. The massive opening tutti is modeled after that of Beethoven's
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor. Its extended, highly symphonic
writing gives no indication that the work is a concerto. Following
this, Joachim abandons completely the usual grand entrance of the
soloist. Instead, the solo violin joins the other instruments, almost
as a chamber-music partner. They pass melodies back and forth throughout
the movement, with the soloist alternating between main voice and
descant. The highly embellished style of many of Joachim's melodies
shows a familiarity with gypsy fiddlers. (Having left Hungary as
a young boy, Joachim did not distinguish between the music of gypsies
residing in Hungary and the folk music of ethnic Hungarians.)
Joachim deviates from tradition in the movement's development section
by re-arranging the order of his initial material and by adding
an entirely new theme. This development section is particularly
imaginative in its use of key changes and in the variety of orchestral
colors displayed. The recapitulation follows the melodic course
of the opening tutti rather than that of the first solo. A section
of new material features the soloist playing a series of descending
chromatic octaves that Joachim compared to the neighing of a horse.
The cadenza begins with the unaccompanied soloist playing a contrapuntal
improvisation on the opening theme. Eventually, a flute and an oboe
each join in turn, helping to integrate the cadenza into the structure
of the movement. Concluding the movement with a gesture similar
to a passage in his cadenza to the Beethoven Concerto, Joachim again
gives the soloist chromatic octaves - this time a descending scale
spanning two-and-a-half octaves - which lead to the end of the coda.
The second movement (Romanze: Andante) is in truncated ABA form
with a coda. "There is such charm and friendliness in it,"
Brahms wrote in 1858. "The whole flows along so tranquilly
and one part evolves from the other so beautifully that it is a
joy." While the endings of the first two phrases of the main
theme are very characteristically Hungarian, both phrases begin
not with the typically Hungarian "snap" of a sixteenth
note followed by a dotted eighth, but with quarter notes preceded
by grace notes. An agitated middle section contrasts dramatically
with the more peaceful sections surrounding it. For the return to
the A section, a single cello plays the entire first theme while
the solo violinist performs elaborate embellishments. Here Joachim
demonstrates his deep devotion to Bach with ornamentation that is
organic, melodic, and harmonic - not merely decorative.
The Finale alla Zingara is a huge movement in rondo form with the
following structural scheme: A-B-C-A-D-A-B-C-coda. Its opening horn
call shatters the tranquil ending of the second movement. (Such
horn calls are a recurring motif that unites all three movements.)
The A section is in a perpetual motion style that makes use of the
"gypsy scale" (harmonic minor with a raised fourth) and
demands the utmost virtuosity from soloist and orchestra alike as
they toss melodies back and forth. Other orchestral sections employ
various dance rhythms and rampant "snaps," while the soloist's
double-stopping is so intense that it sometimes feels as though
Joachim has incorporated a whole band of fiddlers into a part written
for one. A new theme introduced at the beginning of the coda has
a triumphant feeling, and the concerto dashes to the finish line
with a final burst of energy. This movement inspired Brahms to write
his beloved Hungarian Dances (originally for piano, four hands),
which Joachim later transcribed for violin and piano.
Despite their Hungarian flavor, Joachim's melodies are entirely
original; they incorporate no traditional tunes. Rather than lightening
the effect of his concerto, they succeed in elevating the Hungarian
style from its humble origins to grand nobility, infusing introspection
as well as virility.
Throughout their friendship, Joachim was unwavering in his support
of Brahms's compositions. He performed Brahms's chamber works, premiering
many of them, and conducted Brahms's symphonies. Joachim was particularly
fond of the Brahms Violin Concerto. He described the work, which
Brahms dedicated to him, as one of "high artistic value"
that roused in him "a peculiarly strong feeling of interest."3
Brahms began composing his Violin Concerto in the summer of 1878,
during a vacation on Lake Wörther in Pörtschach, Carinthia
(Austria). On August 22, Brahms sent the manuscript of the violin
part to Joachim with this note: "Naturally I wish to ask you
to correct it. I thought you ought to have no excuse - neither respect
for the music being too good nor the pretext that orchestrating
it would not merit the effort. Now I shall be satisfied if you say
a word and perhaps write in several: difficult, awkward, impossible,
etc." Thus began one of the most intriguing musical exchanges
in history.
By the time Joachim premiered the concerto in Leipzig on January
1, 1879, the piece had undergone considerable changes. Two middle
movements had been removed and replaced by a newly written Adagio,
resulting in the three-movement concerto we know today. (Both of
the original middle movements are now lost. Many scholars think
that the Scherzo may have been converted into the Allegro appassionato
of the Second Piano Concerto.) The score was passed back and forth
at least a half dozen times before the premiere, and the two friends'
debate over revisions, which is clearly evident in the surviving
manuscript, has been left for posterity. In the end, Brahms incorporated
most of Joachim's suggested orchestral changes but considerably
fewer of his revisions to the solo violin part.
The first movement of the Brahms Concerto follows the example of
both Joachim and Beethoven in integrating the solo part with the
orchestral writing. Often the solo violin plays counter-melody while
other instruments play the main material. Brahms left the composition
of the cadenza to the performer. Joachim wrote his own cadenza,
which remains the one most frequently performed. There is some evidence
that Brahms had a hand in its creation. Brahms wrote to Elizabet
von Herzogenberg of an early performance, "the Cadenza sounded
so beautiful at the actual concert that the public applauded it
into the start of the Coda."
The Brahms Concerto is often described as "masculine,"
due in large part to its robust first movement. I am continually
awed by the majestic and inexorable qualities of such sections as
the opening solo and the broken octaves in the development. If the
Beethoven Concerto captures the beauty of God's creation, the Brahms
Concerto conveys its magnitude and power.
Many in the first generation of violinists exposed to the concerto
did not recognize its brilliance. Referring to the second movement,
Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate complained that he had to stand
on stage while the oboe played the only good melody in the whole
piece. This comment illustrates the difference between the straightforward
melodic concept of the Franco-Belgian virtuoso school and the more
complex treatment employed by Brahms and his musical compatriots.
Simple in structure, this movement contains some of the most profoundly
beautiful music ever written for the violin.
Brahms drew inspiration for the third movement from the Finale
of Joachim's "Hungarian" Concerto. Here Brahms's rhythmic
vitality and melodic exuberance evoke the same mood as do other
Hungarian-inspired works, but without relying on gypsy tunes or
the gypsy scale. Unlike the headlong rush that concludes the Joachim
Concerto, the poco piu presto at the end of the Brahms calls for
a march-like, steady beat, and even implies a slight ritard in the
final bars. Nonetheless, both concertos end with D-major chords
that confer a feeling of genuine, well-earned triumph.
Despite the Brahms Violin Concerto's decidedly mixed initial reception,
it has become one of the most popular and beloved works in the violin
repertoire. In contrast, Joachim's "Hungarian" Concerto
will be a real discovery for many modern listeners. I hope that
awareness of the Joachim Concerto's influence will shed new light
on the Brahms Concerto and that Joachim's masterpiece will one day
reclaim the great appreciation it once enjoyed.
1 - letter to Woldemar Bargiel, April 7, 1853
2 - Frederic Emery, The Violin Concerto, 1928
3 - Joseph Joachim and Andreas Moser, Violinschule, 1902-05
About the Cadenzas
This recording includes two different cadenzas for the Brahms Concerto.
When I repeat the Concerto in a series of concerts with the same
orchestra, I often play a different cadenza each night, alternating
my favorites - by Ysaye, Kreisler, and Maud Powell - with the one
I composed. For a recording that emphasizes the relationship between
Brahms and Joachim, it seemed appropriate to perform Joachim's original
cadenza in the context of the complete concerto. I felt, however,
that my interpretation would be incomplete if I did not also include
an organic reflection of my own ideas about Brahms's composition.
Therefore, track 5 of the Brahms disc begins with my cadenza and
continues with the orchestra to the end of the movement. To hear
it in context, listen to the first movement up to the end of track
1, then immediately advance the disc to track 5. (You can do this
manually if it is not possible to program your CD player in advance.)
I hope you will enjoy the variety offered by these two different
conclusions to Brahms's first movement.
About the Violin
It was a special privilege to play the 1742 Joseph Guarneri "del
Gesu" violin known as the "ex-Soldat" for this album
because the instrument has an intimate connection to this repertoire.
In 1875, an extremely talented young musician named Marie Soldat
(1863-1955) decided to give up the violin to develop her talents
in piano and voice. Hearing Joseph Joachim perform in Graz three
years later, however, inspired her to return to the violin, and
to study with him.
Marie Soldat was introduced to Brahms at Pörtschach during
a summer tour of Austrian spas in 1879. After hearing her play,
he arranged a benefit performance to help pay for her studies. Brahms
also gave her money for a train ticket to join him and Joachim in
Salzburg. When she began to play the Mendelssohn Concerto with Brahms
at the piano, the strings on her violin snapped. Joachim handed
her his Stradivari, and her performance was so impressive that Joachim
accepted her into his class at the Hochschule für Musik in
Berlin.
Soldat (later Soldat-Röger) became a member of Brahms's inner
circle and a regular chamber music partner. Their friendship continued
throughout his life. The famed pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow
once introduced her as "Brahms's understudy."
Soldat was widely considered one of the greatest violinists of
her day. She studied the Brahms Concerto with both Joachim and Brahms,
and it became her signature piece. She introduced it to many European
cities, including Vienna in 1885, with Hans Richter conducting the
Vienna Philharmonic. She gave it its second performance in Berlin,
with Joachim conducting.
Brahms selected this violin for Soldat in 1897 and arranged for
a wealthy Viennese businessman to purchase it and loan it to her
for her lifetime. The Strad, in 1910, remarked that "…[it]
bears most of the characteristics we have learnt to associate with
this maker in a remarkable degree. The tone is of extraordinary
beauty, and suits the violinist's virile style admirably.…
The tone is full and rich, and noticeably deep on the G string.
All the outlines of the fiddle seem to breathe life and strength."
I like to think that Brahms chose this violin, in part, because
its voice represents most closely what he envisioned for his concerto.
I hope you enjoy hearing the sound of this amazing instrument as
much as I enjoyed playing it.
Artistic Quality 10/10 Sound Quality
"This is not only one of the best sounding violin and orchestra
recordings ever made, but the entire concept is so smart, so well
executed, and so thoughtfully planned that even if it were not so
musically stupendous it still would be worthy of your attention...
this is one of those rare productions in which absolutely everything
goes right... Astounding!"
Classics Today.com
"With Barton's serious musical statement in the first movement,
her alternation of stentorian rhetoric with wistful filigree in
the second, and her sparkling off-the-string brilliance in the third,
hers must be the version of choice for those who care about the
[Joachim Concerto]… Rachel Barton has holistically realized
the [Brahms Concerto's] potential: She's muscular in the angular
passages and whisperingly intimate in the lyrical ones - and makes
transitions from one musical personality to the other without jarring
the listener. The performance's hormones remain perfectly in balance,
creating an overwhelming impression of integrity… Remaining
faithful to the movement's thematic material and integrating violinistic
display thoroughly into these motives, [Barton's cadenza] recommends
itself equally on the basis of purely musical and of purely instrumental
values.
With the best (and what seems destined to remain the best) complete
version of Joachim's concerto, with a monumental performance of
the Brahms concerto, with an intriguing new cadenza for that concerto,
with the strong connections between the concertos themselves and
between the repertoire and the violin upon which Barton's performed
it, and finally with stunning recorded sound, Cedille's two CDs
deserve an urgent recommendation for their extraordinary merit and
equally extraordinary appeal. It's clear that Rachel Barton and
everyone at Cedille cares deeply about what they do."
Fanfare
Critics’ Choice – Discs of the Year
“I’ve long hoped to hear the Joachim, a magnificent but
taxing work, played with this degree of assurance and musical understanding.”
Gramophone
"Outstanding playing from the soloist in an intriguing coupling
of Brahms and Joachim… Rachel Barton is a magnetically imaginative
artist, spontaneously expressive in her rubato, who makes every
phrase sound fresh. Technically, too, she shows complete mastery…
In the Joachim Concerto - even longer than the Brahms - Barton is
just as compelling, fiery in the bravura passages, tenderly expressive
in the many lyrical moments, with the Hungarian flavour idiomatically
brought out in her shaping of phrases and pointing of rhythm."
Gramophone
"The Joachim Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, "In the
Hungarian Style," is a gem of a piece, and the young violinist
Rachel Barton is a gem of a player… Brahms and Joachim share
some stylistic traits that are obvious even in the first few measures
of the "Hungarian" concerto. But there's also a marvelous
Dvorakesque quality to Joachim's melodies and orchestrations…Barton's
way with the Brahms is sturdy and elegant in all the right places."
Philadelphia Inquirer
"Barton is so splendidly on top of the [Joachim Concerto's]
formidable technical difficulties, so deeply into its tuneful romantic
sentiment, that you have to love the concerto along with her…
Barton turns in a performance [of the Brahms Concerto] of comparable
expressive feeling and musical poise (she also contributes her own
long, convincing cadenza for the first movement, separately tracked
so you can sub it for Joachim's, and vice versa)… a genuine
discovery, made all the more attractive by the excellent recording."
Chicago Tribune
A fascinating pairing of two complementary works … Joachim's
concerto is fairly bursting with great tunes, with echoes of Beethoven,
and, somewhat jarringly, pre-echoes of Brahms' own concerto to come.
Soloist Rachel Barton is at her finest here, phrasing with tonal
sensitivity and subtle expression. Throughout, Barton communicates
the melodic charm and lyrical impetus of this music with great feeling.
The rousing finale goes like the wind in her agile fingers, with
an exhilarating pedal-to-the-metal coda.
Competition is much stiffer in the more familiar Brahms concerto
but Barton's spacious reading is just as impressive and can more
than hold its own with her most celebrated rivals. Performing on
the "ex-Soldat" Guarneri, which has connections to Brahms'
inner circle, Barton is alive to the concerto's restless drama as
well as the nostalgic lyricism, playing with a pure refined glow.
Under Kalmar's direction, the CSO is supple and responsive, and
the refined recording has great presence, with the soloist naturally
balanced. Barton contributes intelligent notes and provides a bonus
with her own clever cadenza for the Brahms concerto, which can be
programmed in place of the standard Joachim. Offered at two discs
for the price of one, these excellent, historically significant
performances are a bargain as well.
Sun-Sentinel (South Florida)
While Joachim essentially looks backward to the late-Classical
models, Brahms charts entirely new grounds in form and substance.
What a difference two decades makes. Particularly in the two finales,
Barton makes them appear to be two sides of the same coin. Her performances
in these works are so memorable... Barton brings a breath of freshness
as soon as she enters. From there, making connections between the
two pieces seems relatively easy. Barton's essential musicianship
hardly alters between the two, revealing a similar sense of phrasing
and characteristic bite in the sound during the fast virtuosic passages
balanced by true melodic freedom in slower, lyrical portions.
The Strad
"In a lengthy essay, Barton traces the close musical
partnership between Brahms and Joachim, the violinist who introduced
his friend's violin concerto. She proves to be a compelling advocate
for both concertos. Barton produces a glowing, lustrous tone and
plays with unfailing taste. She receives optimal support from Carlos
Kalmar and the Chicago Symphony in this well-engineered release."
Courier Post (New Jersey)
"Without wanting to sound sexist, if I hadn't known [Rachel
Barton] was a woman, I might have guessed otherwise, for her tone
is dark and firm (she plays the ex-Soldat Guarneri del Gesu) and
her musicianship authoritative. This is great in the Brahms where,
accompanied by Carlos Kalmar and the Chicago Symphony, she gives
a big-boned, majestic, triumphant performance. The concerto by Joseph
Joachim (who played the Brahms premiere in 1879) is given authentic
gypsy flavor by Barton… it's instructive to have them together
on discs in such persuasive performances."
San Francisco Examiner
"Barton evinces clarity, rhythmic life and a serene sense
of lyrical line. The Brahms is noble and the Joachim, fresher to
the ears, is a charmer. The written notes are by Barton, who is
clearly as intelligent a commentator as she is a virtuoso."
The Arizona Republic
"These are attractive recordings, thoughtful in concept as
well as execution… [Kalmar and Barton] make a persuasive case
for Joachim's concerto, emphasizing its sophisticated Hungarian
flavor and fluid writing for solo violin. Barton's detailed liner
notes are illuminating, and she combines effortless virtuosity and
understated lyricism in both concertos."
Chicago Sun-Times
THE JOACHIM: “This may be the finest recording of this important
violin concerto that ever will be made.”
THE BRAHMS: “This has become my favorite recording of this
concerto. … Barton's cadenza on a separate track is a masterpiece.”
About.com
Two of the most demanding violin concertos, an imaginative coupling
… Joachim's concerto is a dazzling, dramatic and one of the
longest concertos for the instrument. It has been called by some
the most difficult work in the violinists' repertory. It is surprising
that major violinists of the past haven't championed it … Rachel
Barton's performances of both works are elegant, technically secure
and beautiful in tone. Needless to say, the Chicago Symphony offers
superb support under Carlos Kalmar … Cedille is to be commended
for this issue, which offers splendid performances of two major
concertos, two CDs for the price of one. Highly Recommended!
ClassicalCDReview.com
Joachim takes first billing with … Barton's dazzling entry,
full of double stopping and bringing home the full passion behind
the music. She's clearly done her research on this work, and applies
a flawless technique. … It's very interesting to hear the Brahms
in this particular context, and as a bonus Rachel Barton ends the
first movement with her own showy cadenza as an alternative to Joachim's.
… The finale zips along with plenty of verve, Brahms's Hungarian
connections all the more telling off the back of the Joachim piece.
This is a fascinating juxtaposition of works by two friends.
musicOMH.com
Our blindfolded audience would surely take Joseph Joachim's seldom
heard Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, ``In the Hungarian Style,''
for a long-lost concerto by Brahms, and certainly enjoy it as such.
… A big, deep-thinking and spacious first movement gives way
to a pretty, tender, slow movement and Gypsy-style finale that has
some wildness to it. Barton gives the work a sturdy performance,
vibrant in tone and vibrato, technically assured and confidently
phrased. … Her co-conspirators are no less than the Chicago
Symphony and Carlos Kalmer, who give her resonant, sensitive support,
warmly yet clearly recorded in Orchestra Hall.
Orange County Register
At first thought you may ask yourself, "Why another recording
of the Brahms Violin Concerto?" Then, you listen to Rachel
Barton's passionate interpretation of one of the romantic era's
greatest compositions for violin and orchestra, and the answer is
obvious: a performance as good as this deserves to be preserved
for posterity.
Daily Herald (Illinois)
“Barton brings a performance of great passion and virtuosity
… This recording, featuring a Chicago soloist, orchestra and
record label, has received widespread praise throughout the world,
and rightfully so.”
CNN Money - Annual list of top recordings
“Barton's Brahms interpretation is both energetic and elegant.
… Barton's playing is refreshingly individual and thus unique.
It is clear that she doesn't want to belong to schools or follow
trends but seeks a voice of her own. The less well-known Joachim
concerto offers a good opportunity to demonstrate her individual
approach; its spirited and temperamental performance is most promising."
Gramofon (Hungary)
“Barton’s enthusiasm for these concertos is unmistakable
… Her performances are gorgeous, almost reverential.”
Wichita Eagle
