Peaks, valleys score violinist's music, life

Her three performances in Colorado Springs have earned 33-year-old violinist Rachel Barton Pine major-league adulation.

Former Gazette arts critic Mark Arnest called her "one of the greatest violinists performing today." Colorado Springs Philharmonic conductor Lawrence Leighton Smith said, "She has a God-like sound."

Barton Pine returns to town to perform Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major on Tuesday. That's the same day she releases her 10th recording. The 2-disc set features the Beethoven concerto she is performing here and a concerto by Beethoven's friend, Franz Clement, that hasn't been performed in two centuries.

Barton Pine is as exciting in interview mode as she is when performing. And she doesn't mind sharing the details of her personal struggles, some of which mirror the structure of Beethoven's concerto.

Movement 1: allegro ma non troppo

This fast-paced movement begins with four timpani notes. "That's shocking," Barton Pine says. "I don't think anyone ever started a concerto like that."

Her own musical beginnings are equally unusual. Born in Chicago, she grew up in a poor family. At age 3, she was with her family at St. Paul's United Church of Christ when she saw "older girls in beautiful dresses" playing violins.

She begged for her own violin and was soon spending eight hours a day practicing. By age 10 she performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. By 14 she was contributing to the family finances.

But her awards and acclaim were earned amid tension with her family and ongoing financial struggles.

"I had to borrow instruments," she says. "We bought my concert clothes at thrift stores. We stretched to purchase gas to drive to lessons or the airplane tickets I needed for competitions. Even buying sheet music was a huge struggle."

Her talent won out, paving the way for a fast-paced international career that seemed destined to make her a musical legend.

Then tragedy struck.

Movement 2: larghetto

"This movement of the concerto has no development," she says. "It never changes keys. It never goes anywhere. But it's a perfect piece of music. It speaks to one's soul. It's so peaceful and transporting."

Barton Pine's rapid career trajectory was stopped at age 20 by a near-fatal accident on Chicago's Metra commuter train system. She was exiting one of the system's cars when the doors closed on the strap of her violin case. The train took off, dragging her more than 350 feet. When she finally freed herself she fell under the train, which severed one leg and seriously injured the other.

Forty surgeries later, she still struggles with pain, physical complications and an infection that threatens her remaining leg.

The accident also provides opportunities for observers who think it prevented her from becoming the superstar she was destined to be. In a major article this year, a Chicago Tribune writer said: "Pine has not achieved a fraction of the acclaim that once seemed within her reach. The years she would have spent basking in her competition wins and playing international concerts in their wake were lost to years of recovery and rehab."

Barton Pine has a different perspective.

"For people in the media, it's such dramatic thing to talk about," she says. "They portray it as a pivotal moment in life. But it really isn't.

"I really felt God meant for me to be a violinist. At every turn, there were obstacles. But if I could hold on to my faith, and if I worked as hard as I could, I believed somehow things would work out, even if I could not see how they would."

Movement 3: rondo

Third movements often revisit musical themes introduced in the first movement of a work. That's not the case in this concerto. But Barton Pine ties things together with the cadenza she wrote, which reiterates the four tympani notes that opened the piece.

"This movement is very cheerful," she says. "It's fun. In fact, it's so lighthearted that previous generations of music critics have questioned whether Beethoven wrote it. They say it doesn't have the gravitas we associate with Beethoven's melodies."

And at this stage in her life, Barton Pine is having more fun than some might have predicted.

"I have a wonderful life," she says. "I have close friends, a fantastic husband, a great violin and my job is to play the most amazing concertos ever written. What could be better than that?"

Her life off-stage is a blur of activity. In Colorado, she will meet with composer Luis Jorge Gonzales, conduct a master class for members of the Peak Harmonic Youth Orchestra, and do radio interviews on KVOD and KCME.

She is also a recurring guest on rock stations, where she performs violin versions of heavy metal classics by AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Metallica. (Her love for hard rock inspired her CD "Storming the Citadel," and her latest podcast, "Violins Rule.")

And through her Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation, the charitable organization she founded in 2001, she serves as an ambassador for classical music to people who don't yet love it. She also loans instruments and makes financial grants to help young artists struggling with the musicrelated expenses she herself struggled with. And through Global HeartStrings, she provides basic classical instruments and supplies to musicians in developing countries such as Haiti and Nigeria.

But it's on the stage where Barton Pine's passion for music achieves its transcendent power. "I can really feel the presence of God when I am playing music," she says.

"As I play, I feel connected to the composer. I feel connected to musicians who are playing with me. There's a giveand-take that happens in the moment of performance. I also feel a sense of connection with the audience. Performers can feel the vibe in the room, and that impacts what we do."

On stage or off, Barton Pine will continue to pursue her musical mission.

"Music has amazing power to reach into the depths of the soul," she says. "And I believe it is my calling to share music with as many people as I can."

DETAILS
Colorado Springs Philharmonic presents works by Beethoven with pianist Andre Watts and violinist Rachel Barton Pine

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave.
Tickets: $25-$55; 520-7469 or www.ticketswest.com.