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CHICAGO, IL (July 13, 2023) — Cedille Records releases Dependent Arising, violinist Rachel Barton Pine’s 24th recording with the label. The album, inspired by the surprising confluences between classical and heavy metal music, pairs Dmitri Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77 with Earl Maneein's “Dependent Arising” — Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, a heavy metal-influenced classical concerto written expressly for Pine, performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) conducted by Tito Muñoz. Dependent Arising will be released on Friday, August 11.
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.
The album explores themes of struggle, oppression, and defiance, which define Shostakovich’s oeuvre and resonate deeply with the essence of heavy metal music. Now a staple of the classical concerto repertory, Shostakovich's emotionally charged Violin Concerto No. 1 holds a special place among metal enthusiasts, with its diverse movements ranging from the haunting Nocturne to the relentless Burlesque. In her personal note for the album booklet, Pine writes:
“There is perhaps no classical composer who is more beloved to metalheads than Shostakovich… What is it about Shostakovich’s music that causes this visceral response? Some music is designed to entertain us, to uplift us, to comfort us. Other music challenges us and makes us think by making us feel uncomfortable. Shostakovich’s complex music is defiant in the face of oppression. Perhaps that is the basis for its incredible appeal to heavy metal fans.”
Earl Maneein is an acclaimed violinist and composer known for his unique and innovative fusion of western classical music, heavy metal, and hardcore punk. “Dependent Arising” was originally commissioned by Tito Muñoz for Pine after he heard her play one of Maneein’s metal-inspired solo violin pieces, which she had commissioned. The work pushes the boundaries of traditional concerto composition and draws inspiration from the world of “Extreme Metal,” the Western European classical music tradition, and the composer’s practice as a Buddhist. The concerto elevates the rhythmic patterns and aggression of various heavy music subgenres to an expanded realm of storytelling. In his program notes for the album booklet, Maneein asks:
“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.”
Rachel Barton Pine has collaborated with Cedille Records since 1996, and Dependent Arising is Pine’s 24th recording with the label.
Dependent Arising was produced by the Grammy-winning team of James Ginsburg and engineer Bill Maylone, with session engineering by the RSNO’s Hedd Morfett-Jones. It was recorded January 7–8, 2022 at Scotland’s Studio, Glasgow. The recording was made possible in part by generous support from the Sage Foundation.
RACHEL BARTON PINE
Heralded as a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks, concert violinist Rachel Barton Pine thrills international audiences with her dazzling technique, lustrous tone, and emotional honesty. With an infectious joy in music-making and a passion for connecting historical research to performance, Pine transforms audiences’ experiences of classical music. Pine performs with the world’s leading orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Vienna, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. She has worked with renowned conductors including Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Neeme Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Erich Leinsdorf, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Tito Muñoz, and John Nelson. She frequently performs music by contemporary composers, including major works written for her by Billy Childs, Mohammed Fairouz, Marcus Goddard, Earl Maneein, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Daniel Bernard Roumain, José Serebrier, and Augusta Read Thomas. She has recorded over 40 acclaimed albums, many of which have hit the top of the charts. Most recently, in 2022 Cedille Records released her YoViolin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries: 25th Anniversary Edition, which features a new recording of Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Jonathon Heyward. She has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, PBS NewsHour, A Prairie Home Companion, and NPR’s Tiny Desk. Her RBP Foundation assists young artists through its Instrument Loan Program and Grants for Education and Career, and since 2001, has run the groundbreaking Music by Black Composers project. She performs on the “ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” Joseph Guarnerius “del Gesù” (Cremona 1742), on lifetime loan from her anonymous patron. RachelBartonPine.com
TITO MUÑOZ
Praised for his versatility, technical clarity, and keen musical insight, Tito Muñoz is internationally recognized as one of the most gifted conductors on the podium today. Celebrating his tenth season as the Virginia G. Piper Music Director of The Phoenix Symphony in 2023–2024, Tito previously served as Music Director of the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy in France. Other prior appointments include Assistant Conductor positions with the Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and Aspen Music Festival. Tito has appeared with many of the most prominent orchestras in North America, including those of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee, as well as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and National Symphony Orchestra. A passionate educator, Tito regularly visits North America’s top educational institutions, summer music festivals, and youth orchestras. Tito made his professional conducting debut in 2006 with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, and his Cleveland Orchestra debut at the Blossom Music Festival that same year. Born in Queens, New York, he attended the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, and the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division, furthering his training at Queens College (CUNY) before receiving conducting training at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. Titomunoz.com
ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) is one of Europe's leading symphony orchestras. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950 and was awarded Royal patronage in 1977. Many renowned conductors have contributed to its success, including Sir John Barbirolli, Walter Susskind, Sir Alexander Gibson, Neeme Järvi, Walter Weller, Alexander Lazarev, and Stéphane Denève. The Orchestra’s artistic team is led by Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård, who was appointed RSNO Music Director in 2018. The RSNO performs across Scotland, including concerts in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth, and Inverness. The Orchestra appears regularly at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms, and has made recent tours to the USA, China, and Europe. The RSNO has a worldwide reputation for the quality of its more than 200 recordings, receiving a 2020 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Chopin’s Piano Concertos (soloist: Benjamin Grosvenor), conducted by Elim Chan, two Diapason d’Or awards for Symphonic Music (Denève/Roussel 2007; Denève/Debussy 2012) and eight Grammy Award nominations. rsno.org.uk
EARL MANEEIN
Hailed by Robert Trujillo, bassist for Metallica, as “a kick-ass artist who pushes the creative boundaries,” Earl Maneein is a violinist and composer whose work stands at the somewhat unlikely crossroads of Western Classical music, Heavy Metal, and Hardcore Punk. Maneein received a Bachelor of Music from Queens College and a Master of Music from the Mannes College of Music, where he studied with Daniel Phillips of the Orion String Quartet. He is the founder of and main composer for the string quartet, SEVEN)SUNS, which plays both extant and new metal and hardcore work. He is also a member of the Vitamin String Quartet, whose recent music was featured in the Netflix show, Bridgerton. As a composer, Maneein has received commissions from a broad array of individuals and institutions, including Carnegie Hall, Rachel Barton Pine, pioneering hardcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan, Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Phoenix Symphony led by Tito Muñoz. earlmaneeinmusic.com
CEDILLE RECORDS
Launched in November 1989 by James Ginsburg, Grammy Award-winning Cedille Records (pronounced say-DEE) is dedicated to showcasing and promoting the most noteworthy classical artists in and from the Chicago area. A nonprofit record label, Cedille’s mission is to produce and disseminate audiophile recordings presenting the finest classical music performers and composers in and from Chicago. The recordings further the careers and legacies of these Chicago artists as Cedille invests in not only the recordings but in the artists represented on them. The label’s catalog of more than 200 front-line albums brims with attractive, off-the-beaten-path repertoire from the Baroque era to the present day. Works from the classical canon, when they do appear, are usually heard in particularly imaginative pairings. Cedille never removes albums from its catalog and each recording is a permanent documentation of the artist’s work. With more than 180 Chicago artists and ensembles, over 80 making their professional recording debuts on the label, Cedille brings the area’s most significant classical music artists to a worldwide listening public. Its catalog includes the world premieres of more than 400 classical compositions. Cedille recordings are available on CD, as MP3 and hi-resolution FLAC downloads, and on all major streaming platforms.
DEPENDENT ARISING
(CDR 90000 223)
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Tito Muñoz, conductor
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77
1 I. Nocturne (11:33)
2 II. Scherzo (6:22)
3 III. Passacaglia (12:54)
4 IV. Burlesque (4:54)
Earl Maneein (b. 1976)
“Dependent Arising” — Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
5 I. Grasping at the self. (14:06)
6 II. The crows already knew of your grief. They will carry him home. (11:17)
7 III. Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā. (6:01)
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