CEDILLE RECORDS: CDR 90000 035
VIOLIN CONCERTOS BY BLACK COMPOSERS OF THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES
RACHEL BARTON PINE, VIOLIN
DANIEL HEGE, CONDUCTOR
ENCORE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Meude-Monpas: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major (1786)
Saint-Georges: Violin Concerto in A Major, Op. 5 No. 2 (1775)
White: Violin Concerto in F-sharp Minor (1864)
Coleridge-Taylor: Romance in G Major (1899)





In 1992, I was invited to perform the Meude-Monpas Concerto No. 4 in a concert that the Civic Orchestra of Chicago presented in collaboration with Chicago's Center for Black Music Research (CBMR). The Meude-Monpas, written in France in 1786, had recently been rediscovered, and this special concert of music by black composers was its modern-day premiere. The music was catchy, fresh, and utterly charming.

A few years later, the Encore Chamber Orchestra approached me about a collaborative recording. For my first concerto album, I wanted to present interesting works that listeners wouldn't already have in their libraries. The Meude-Monpas immediately came to mind. Hopeful that other buried treasure might exist, I visited CBMR and began digging. The moment I saw their portrait of Saint-Georges, which prompted the cover for this album, I knew I was on the right track.

CBMR provided me with facsimiles of the 18th-century prints of the Saint-Georges and Meude-Monpas concertos. I based my interpretations on these original sources, and I composed cadenzas where the scores indicated. CMBR led me next to the 1864 Concerto in F# minor by Jose White. Learning of this neglected masterpiece was a revelation. It is a major romantic concerto of the virtuosic Franco-Belgian school, similar to the concertos of Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski and just as melodically satisfying. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was the obvious composer to complete the program, as his Romance of 1899 is so beautifully orchestrated.

Learning about these composers' lives was as inspiring as exploring their music. I have especially enjoyed sharing their stories and compositions with African-American children, teaching that classical music is a part of their heritage that goes back at least as far as Mozart's day.

I plan to publish my editions of some of these works in the near future. Meanwhile, I hope you'll enjoy both the historic significance of this recording and the outstanding quality of the music itself.