Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Violin Lullabies (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The world’s first lullabies were simple songs sung or hummed by parents cradling their infants and rocking them to sleep. After the birth of violinist Rachel Barton Pine’s first child in 2011 she could find no existing collection of classical violin lullaby scores or recordings, so she set about gathering sheet music from libraries around the world and recording her own versions with pianist Matthew Hagle. Familiar tunes and new discoveries intertwine in this sweet, timely release celebrating the beauty of new life and parenthood.

Singing or playing music to a child to make him/her sleepy is as old as humanity, but the lullaby in classical instrumental music is of more temporally circumscribed vintage. The earliest piece on this album of lullabies for violin and piano is probably the Wiegenlied, D. 498, of Franz Schubert; the latest are perhaps Mother and Child, for violin and piano, by William Grant Still, and George Gershwin’s Summertime, which is delightful heard in this context. In between, however, the form was extraordinarily popular, and violin and piano were a favored combination; Summertime and several other pieces here are arrangements, but the majority were originally composed for this medium. Violinist Rachel Barton Pine indicates that the birth of her first child inspired her to issue the album, and identifies new mothers as a possible marketplace, but the collection also ought to be heard by those interested in the domestic significance of the smaller Romantic genres. There are some lovely works here that aren’t much heard except as encores, such as Grieg’s Vuggevise (Cradle Song, track 19), and others by composers now all but unknown. Twenty-five lullabies in a row is a lot, but Pine has taken steps to keep you from nodding off: she classifies the pieces as “warm,” “delicate,” or “mysterious,” and uses a different mute for each. The temptation to give this as a baby shower gift is strong, but that’s not its only use.

Tracklist:
1-1. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Wiegenlied (Cradle Song), No. 4 from Fünf Lieder (02:23)
1-2. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Rêve d’Enfant (Child’s Dream) (03:51)
1-3. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse, No. 1 from Trois Morceaux (01:47)
1-4. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse, No. 2 from Three Compositions (03:47)
1-5. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse écossaise (Scottish Lullaby) (03:56)
1-6. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse, No. 1 from Sei Pezzi (03:33)
1-7. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess (03:48)
1-8. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Nana (Lullaby), No. 5 from Siete Canciones populares Españolas (02:09)
1-9. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse, Op. 16 (03:48)
1-10. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse, No. 6 from Six Pieces (02:28)
1-11. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse, No. 3 from Six Morceaux (02:36)
1-12. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Oror (Lullaby), Op. 1 (02:40)
1-13. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse from The Firebird (02:58)
1-14. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré (02:27)
1-15. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Lullaby (03:02)
1-16. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Wiegenlied, D 498 (02:18)
1-17. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Schlummerlied (Slumber Song), No.16 from Albumblätter (03:41)
1-18. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse, No. 4 from Cinq aquarelles (02:55)
1-19. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Vuggevise (Cradle Song), No. 1 from Lyric Pieces (02:30)
1-20. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse, No. 1 from Four Pieces (03:08)
1-21. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Wiegenlied, No. 1 from Fünf Lieder (03:45)
1-22. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Berceuse, Op. 30 (04:02)
1-23. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Petite reine Berceuse (Lullaby for a Little Queen) (03:33)
1-24. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Mother and Child, No. 2 from Suite (06:20)
1-25. Rachel Barton Pine, Matthew Hagle – Wiegenlied, No. 1 from Drei Kompositionen (01:36)