CEDILLE RECORDS: CDR 90000 041
INSTRUMENT OF THE DEVIL
RACHEL BARTON PINE, VIOLIN
PATRICK SINOZICH, PIANO

Saint-Saens: Danse Macabre, Op. 40
Tartini: Sonata in G Minor, "The Devil's Trill"
Liszt/Milstein: Mephisto Waltz
Bazzini: Round of the Goblins, Op. 25
Berlioz/Barton-Sinozich: Dream of a Witches' Sabbath from Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14
De Falla/Kochanski: Dance of Terror from el Amor Brujo
Ernst: Grand Caprice on Schubert's Der Erlkonig, Op. 26
Paganini: The Witches, Op. 8
Stravinsky: The Devil's Dance from L'Histoire du Soldat (trio version)
Sarasate: Faust Fantasy (after Charles Gounod)





In 1993, I was booked to give a recital on October 31. Unable to resist the temptation, I bought a witch's hat and an Elvira dress, found some black nail polish, and started to look for repertoire to fit the theme. I didn't have to look far, as numerous devilish pieces have been written for the violin. In fact, the challenge was not filling the program but deciding which works to leave off. The concert was so much fun that when Cedille Records invited me to make an album of virtuoso encores, I knew just the program to suggest. Many of these works had been part of my recital repertoire for years; the Round of the Goblins was one of my most frequent encores. And since my "rock" album, Storming the Citadel, was about to be released, this collection of showpieces seemed ideal for keeping the interest of those new fans of the violin.

Recording this album challenged my technical strength to the utmost. The heavy-gauge Dominant strings on my violin added to the intensity, so recording multiple takes of the pizzicato section of The Witches actually caused my fingers to bleed! However, it is not the daredevil tricks that make each of these pieces so exciting, but the beauty and drama of the music itself.

The album's liner notes tell the fantastic stories behind each piece and describe the violin's centuries-old associations with the macabre. It was said that Paganini must have sold his soul to the devil to gain the ability to play all of those fast notes. But don't worry, I just practiced a lot!