CEDILLE RECORDS: CDR 90000 047
DOUBLE PLAY: TWENTIETH CENTURY DUOS FOR VIOLIN AND CELLO
RACHEL BARTON PINE, VIOLIN
WENDY WARNER, CELLO

Martinu: Duo No. 2 (1958)
Schulhoff: Duo (1925)
Ravel: Sonata (1922)
Kodály: Duo, Op. 7 (1914)





Wendy Warner and I began playing chamber music together in 1985 at the Music Institute of Chicago (formerly the Music Center of the North Shore) when I was 10 and she was 12. From the beginning, we enjoyed rehearsing and performing together. We quickly became fast friends and continued to play in string quartets until the end of high school. In 1988, our group, the Diller String Quartet, won first prize in the Junior Division of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. The two of us had as much fun jamming on the last movement of the Prokofiev Quartet No. 2 as we had acting silly at our hotel afterwards.

After high school, Wendy went off to Curtis (in Philadelphia) and eventually settled in New York City. As each of us participated in international competitions and launched solo careers, we always kept in touch. We were reunited in 1996 to perform the Brahms Double at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. While each of us had grown musically over the years, playing together was so natural that it seemed as though we had never spent the time apart.

That performance inspired us to assemble a program of duos for violin and cello. The Ravel and Kodaly, two of the most famous compositions for this combination of instruments, were obvious choices. After reading both of Martinu's Duos, we agreed that No. 2 was so energetic and optimistic that we had to include it. Wendy introduced me to composer Erwin Schulhoff, and I became a fan immediately. His Duo for violin and cello had been recorded with others of his works, but never with other violin/cello compositions. We were very excited about presenting it among the more famous works in this genre, as it more than holds its own.

It's a great pleasure to share with you this joyful collaboration with one of my best friends and favorite musicians.