Concert Review                                by Classical Voice
 

Joshua Bell's recital shows a violinist of grace, poise and virtuosity

By Truman Wang
March 3, 2010

   JOSHUA BELL, Violin
   Jeremy Denk, Piano

J.S. Bach: Sonata No. 4 in C minor, BWV.1017
Grieg: Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op.45
Schumann: Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op.105
Ravel: Violin Sonata in G minor


Friday, February 26, 2010 at Walt Disney Hall

A

s the rest of L.A. were shivering in the cold, there was warmth and frequent white heat at the packed auditorium of the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  The reason?  Superstar violinist Joshua Bell was in the house.  The program might be eclectic – two German works, one Norwegian, one French – but Mr. Bell's playing was always idiomatic and often brilliant. 

Earlier in the day, I had a chance to attend an ‘open house’ at my local Jaguar Cars dealership, at which the sales manager showed off the all-new 2011 XJ sedan as “a pinnacle of grace, pace, speed”.  That memorable phrase stuck in my mind all day, and resonated with me throughout Joshua Bell’s performance, which had the same grace, poise and virtuosity of a fine British motorcar.

Yes, it was an exhilarating concert, much as I experience when I cruise in my open-topped Jaguar XK convertible. 

The big rush started with the first work on the program, J.S. Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 4 in C-minor BWV.1017.  It is a sonata for two virtuoso players, but the violin part “requires a special master”, as per Bach’s first biographer, Johann Forkel, in 1802.  In the opening slow movement Siciliano, Mr. Bell weaved a long arching pastoral melody of great sweetness and warmth.  The fast Allegro movements nicely showcased Mr. Bell’s athletic bravura playing and unfailing expressiveness.  One of the unique features of this sonata is its fully worked-out keyboard part, serving important melodic functions rather than merely as ground bass.  Pianist Jeremy Denk proved a valiant partner for Mr. Bell and contributed some brilliant passages in the Allegros, but often times he sounded muted in the slow movements, giving the spotlight to the violin at his own expense.

Edvard Grieg’s folksy, unpretentious music was often passed over by serious musicians until advocates like Fritz Kresler and, more recently, Leif ove Andsnes brought it back into prominence. (Next month, we will hear Grieg’s Piano Concerto at the Disney Hall.)  In the C-minor Sonata No. 3. Op.45, Joshua Bell showed an affinity for the Nordic brand of lyricism in his lovely and sensitive playing.  The dramatic outbursts in the first Allegro sounded off with great intensity, followed by passages of deep calm and serenity.  The romantic Allegretto melody floated sweetly in a hushed wonder – one of Grieg’s finest moments – followed by a brilliantly executed final Allegro.  Pianist Denk’s dry and brittle sound was unremarkable next to the velvet legato lines produced by Mr. Bell’s 300-year-old Stradivarious. 

Following the intermission, we were treated to two odd bedfellows – the passionate German poet Robert Schumann and the wryly acerbic Frenchman Maurice Ravel.  Or you might say they are two sides of the same coin for Joshua Bell to show off his mastery of many styles.  Schumann’s A-minor Violin Sonata, Op.105 alternates emotions from the manic to the elated.  Mr. Bell traversed through this stormy soundscape with great ardor and urgency, always informed of the underlying lyricism. Particularly memorable was the eloquent playing in the Allegretto, marked by easy singing tones and a radiant pianissimo at the end.

Ravel’s G-minor Violin Sonata, influenced by Gershwin’s music, is probably best known for its central “Blues” movement.  It’s a perfect vehicle for an American violinist to strut his or her down-home rhythms and have a ball with it.  Both Bell and Denk played it more or less straight but one would have welcomed more play with that fascinatin’ rhythm.  It was probably pianist Denk’s finest hour – brilliant and scintillating passagework without too much pensive lyricism to get in the way.  Mr. Bell’s playing, on the other hand, was sensuous in the first movement and exhilarating in the barnstorming perpetuum mobile finale. 

Mr. Bell offered a sole encore, Dvorak’s Slavonic dance (arranged by Fritz Kreisler) with his customary grace and colorful bravura.  In the firmament of today’s young violin stars, few shine as long or as brightly as Joshua Bell.

 

To purchase tickets for Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2009/10 season, call (323) 850-2000 or visit online www.laphil.org

 

   

Truman C. Wang is editor-in-chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star-News, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily.

 

 

 

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