A German Bouquet
A masterpiece sonata and an extraordinary fugue by J.S. Bach are highlights in a program that also includes exquisite and rare pieces by Bach’s forbears and contemporaries, J.H. Schmelzer, P.H. Erlebach, J.P. Krieger, Dietrtich Buxtehude, Georg Muffat, and J.G. Pisendel.
A disc [A German Bouquet] of fascinating music, played with real authority and flair…In this survey, spanning almost the whole of the German Baroque period, [Rachel Barton Pine] gives spirited and imaginative performances of continuo-accompanied sonatas…John Mark Rozendaal matches her agility in trio sonatas…while elsewhere combining with David Schrader as an ideally supportive continuo team.
BBC Music Magazine
An Italian Sojourn
The journey starts with music of Stradella, Castello and Marini, brief, dramatic, pieces from the early 17th century, a fertile era of experimentation in music. We continue with a masterpiece by Arcangelo Corelli, the great orator of the violin whose Apollonian sonatas were the models for all others for over a century. And the evening reaches a climax with the passionate and wildly virtuosic music of Pietro Locatelli and Francesco Maria Veracini.
Wonderfully vital and buoyant performances…The exhilarating bravura of her incisive articulation and sharply pointed rhythms is matched by [Pine]'s singing line in her poised and elegant lyrical movements. Superb continuo players David Schrader and John Mark Rozendaal contribute to the real sense of ensemble teamwork.
Fanfare
The Scottish Play
One delightful product of the Scottish Enlightenment of the eighteenth century was a flourishing violin/fiddle culture which nurtured both traditional native Scots styles and the import of modern continental art music. Trio Settecento’s program of Scots violin music includes traditional Scots dance fiddling; sonatas by Scottish composers working in the Italian style; works of Italian violinists incorporating Scottish material; and authentic ‘crossover’ work in which the two styles are combined to create a unique and intoxicating blended Scotch music, a wordless lyric analogue to the poetry of Robert Burns.
Rachel Barton Pine and John Mark Rozendaal have studied Scottish fiddle styles with champion fiddler John William Turner to bring true Caledonian flavor to their interpretations of this entrancing repertoire.
The Classics
The virtuosity of keyboard genius David Schrader is given full scope in a program of trios by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their forbears. In period-instrument performances, the classical fortepiano and the early violin and ‘cello bring warm colors, sprightly rhythmic play, and an easy sense of partnership to this essential repertoire.