[gentle orchestral music]
- Rachel Barton Pine: I was last with the La Crosse Symphony
in October of 2016, when we collaborated
on the third violin concerto of Camille Saint-Saens.
And so it's wonderful to be back,
but actually, my collaboration with Maestro Alexander Platt
goes much farther back than that.
We actually collaborated on my 2004 album, Scottish Fantasies,
recorded with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra,
all of these wonderful,
Scottish-flavored, serious concertos
for violin and orchestra.
And even though I've made dozens of recordings since then,
it seems to be a perennial popular favorite
with the public.
And so it's always fun to reunite with Alexander
because I just love his musicianship,
his passion for music.
His dedication and commitment.
It's always wonderful to work with a musician
who just loves music so much.
So this violin was made in the year 1742
by Guarneri del Gesu of Cremona, Italy.
Guarneri and Stradivari are considered to be
the two greatest makers ever.
And it's really just a matter of taste, which one you prefer.
I'm very lucky to be using this one.
It's called the ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat
after two of the great artists who played it in the past,
Antonio Bazzini,
a early 19th century Paganini-style virtuoso,
and then Marie Soldat, one of the women violin soloists
of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
So it's amazing to play Brahms' music on an instrument
that was one of the first instruments
to ever play the Brahms Concerto.
And it's just such an honor to be able to play this violin.
It not only does everything that I could possibly imagine,
but it even suggests things to me
that I would've never thought of.
[gentle violin music]
Often in violin concertos, there are moments
when the violin is playing all by itself.
It's a little bit equivalent to the guitar solo in a rock song,
except that in the case of cadenzas,
the instrumentalist is completely alone,
but they are playing some, you know,
just fooling around with the different arpeggios and stuff,
playing derivations of material that's been heard
in the music heretofore.
And in the olden days, in the time of Mozart,
people used to actually improvise their cadenzas
based on, you know, general rules of how one does that,
but, you know, just kind of make it up on the spot.
Very few people do that these days.
I think primarily because we're playing so many
different styles of music, even if all we do is classical,
we're playing music from many,
many different centuries and countries,
and so we're not as steeped in just one narrow musical language
like they were in the late 1700s.
[bright violin music]
Brahms was really one of the last concertos
ever written for violin,
where there was this big pause with a cadenza opportunity.
And so, of course,
the very first performer of the concerto, Joseph Joachim,
his dedicatee, wrote a cadenza,
and many people will play Joachim's cadenza.
But there's nothing more personal
than writing your own cadenza, because each of us as performers
plays each concerto slightly differently
based on not only the traditions of the time
and what we believe to be the composer's intentions,
but also based on our own individual personality.
Each of us is unique as a human,
and so therefore only your own cadenza
can be truly integrated with your own interpretation.
And so, when I was younger, I used to worry that, gosh,
if I write a cadenza, it might not be as good
as the classic ones by Joachim and Kreisler.
And then I realized I was looking at it all wrong,
that only my cadenza could be the truest to myself,
and it's not about comparing mine to anybody else's
'cause only mine is the most me.
And therefore, I always try to encourage young artists
to write their own cadenzas, because it's just such a fun way
to personally express yourself in music.
[gentle orchestral music]
It's a great way to be creative
and also to give something a little bit fresh to the audience
that they haven't heard before,
even if they've heard the Brahms concerto a million times.
[gentle orchestral music]
I feel so incredibly lucky to be living my dream, really.
This is the life I always wanted to have,
being able to play lots of concerts for people,
and in the concert halls and beyond.
I have a concert next week at a homeless shelter,
and that means just as much as a big 1,000-seat concert hall.
And being able to uplift people's spirits with music
is what it's really all about.
And then being able to encourage the next generation
and explore different repertoire,
whether it's newly-written pieces or historic things
that have been heretofore under-recognized.
It's just so exciting to be able to get to do all that I do.
And it's just so amazing that I get to live my life this way.
[ending note]