Dependent Arising (CD Review)

 by Karl Nehring

Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77; Earl Maneein: Dependent Arising – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. Rachel Barton Pine, violin; Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Tito Muñoz. Cedille CDR 90000 223

 

Well, you can always learn something new, even about things – or music – or performers – with whom you thought you were already fairly knowledgeable. I was excited to receive this new release from Cedille, for the Shostakovich is one of my favorite violin concertos, Rachel Barton Pine is a fabulous violinist, and Cedille always does a great job in the engineering department. In addition, I was intrigued to hear the piece that Pine had chosen to include with the Shostakovich, Dependent Arising by Earl Maneein (b. 1976), a composer whose name was new to me. When the CD arrived, I immediately started listening to it; saturation mode, actually, playing the CD on my big system but also listening to it via streaming in my car, on my headphones while working at my computer, and even in the shower through my Bluetooth speaker. Unusually enough, throughout this time, even though I knew nothing about Earl Maneein, I did not so much as glance at either the CD booklet nor any of the promotional material that I had been sent. You can imagine my surprise, them, when I finally opened the CD booklet and discovered Pine’s dedication: “To my brothers in Earthen Grave and our loyal Gravedwellers family, this one’s for you.🤘”  Then I began to read her personal note about the recording, which begins: “I discovered heavy metal music at the age of ten…” 

 

Turning to the promotional material, I read that “while Rachel Barton Pine is widely known for her virtuosic and expressive performances of works from the Western classical music canon, she is also a heavy metal enthusiast and performer of the genre. Pine discovered her love for heavy metal as a teenager, and later performed at rock radio stations where she would intersperse her own arrangements of her favorite metal songs by Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Metallica with works by Paganini and Ysaÿe in order to introduce new listeners to classical music. From 2009–2014 she was a member of the acclaimed doom/thrash metal band Earthen Grave, playing 6-string electric violin. With Dependent Arising, Pine explores connections between modern classical music and heavy metal and showcases her own unique journey within these two seemingly disparate genres.”

Later in her CD booklet material, Pine writes that “there is perhaps no classical composer who is more beloved to metalheads than Shostakovich… As a metalhead, the build-ups to the most aggressive moments of the cadenza are particularly satisfying, and the final ‘mosh section’ of the concerto never fails to conjure up memories of my mosh pit days.” Although I doubt most listeners will associate Shostakovich with heavy metal or mosh pits, I am confident they will respond to the intensity and virtuosity that Pine brings to her performance, which is just what this concerto needs. This is truly one of the great recordings of this masterpiece.

 

From Pine’s notes, we learn that she had once reached out to Maneein, who was the songwriter and lead violinist of the guitar-less metalcore band Resolution15, to write her a “metal-inspired piece for solo violin.” (Those who are interested might enjoy this fascinating YouTube video in which Maneein demonstrates  how he can produce heavy-metal sounds from his violin by means of his sophisticated electronics setup.) Maneein accepted the challenge and produced a work titled Metal Organic Framework. When Pine debuted the work in New York in 2014, Tito Muñoz was in the audience. I should point out here that Maneein is a classically trained violinist; moreover, he contributes liner notes for this release that discuss the Shostakovich as well as his own concerto. We learn that Muñoz originally asked Maneein to compose a short symphonic work, but according to Maneein, “ that was beyond my capabilities as a violinist who should have paid better attention to symphonic theory instruction at the conservatory. I preferred to use my comfort zone of violin composition as a point of departure… How do you express pain and violence musically? How do you create catharsis for these negative states? The possible ways to express these feelings in music, as in any language, are limited and therefore are bound to have independently evolved similarities… These commonalities make it clear to me why Rachel chose to pair her excellent performance of the Shostakovich First Violin Concerto with my piece. I use the language of extreme music to fuel my work. I draw on my Buddhist practice of dealing with pain, violence, suffering, and death as inspiration. Both of these violin concertos share expressions of terror, hatred, fear, horror, and sorrow as their primary mover.”  

The end result is a concerto that is relentless in its energetic expressiveness. That is at once its strength and its weakness. The energy is exciting; however, there are times when the listener – at least the listener not from a heavy metal background – might wish for some lyrical contrast, some quieter interludes. Still, it is an interesting composition, certainly worth a listen, and it will be interesting to see what Maneein might be able to do as he gains more experience and confidence in the classical idiom.

 

To sum up, then, what we have here is an album containing two stimulating violin concertos performed by one of the world’s premier violinists, ably accompanied by a thoroughly professional orchestra and conductor, captured in state-of the-art sound. The CD booklet contains fascinating insights into the music by both violinist Pine and composer Maneein – both of whom turn out to have deep roots in heavy metal rock music. Pine’s performance of the Shostakovich is one of the finest ever recorded, while her performance of the Maneein is relentlessly energetic, just the way the music is written. It’s a fascinating album, the Shostakovich alone sufficient to earn it an enthusiastic recommendation, the Maneein a bonus for the adventurous – and for the metalheads (you know who you are).