Romantic Evening Of The Violin
ABOUT THE ALBUM: ROMANCE OF THE VIOLIN, 13 TRACKS, JOSHUA BELL, VIOLIN, CRAIG OGDEN, PIANO, GREGORY KNOWLES, FLUTE STEPHEN ORTON, OBOE JOHN CONSTABLBE, CLARINE ACADEMY OF ST. MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS, MICHAEL STERN, CONDUCTOR, Released 2003

The 13 pieces on this Joshua Bell album entitled "Romance Of The Violin" are from the 19th century's Romantic period, but the orchestra is the famed British ensemble St. Martin-in-the-Fields, better known for its Mozart repertoire when it was lead by its dynamic conductor Sir Neville Marriner in the 1980's. Here the conductor is Michael Stern and the orchestra's far from Mozartian in sound or Classical. Although it's clean, polished, and technically note-for-note accurate without any slips into romantic mush, it still somehow manages to pay homage to the Romantic Era of music, with a modern take on the romantic. And it is still very romantic. Joshua Bell is the star here, although there are other musicians supporting him with harp, oboe, flute and clarinet, and the orchestra is strings- viola, cello and violins, the prominence of Joshua Bell's violin takes the lead. It's like a very elaborate concerto of several movements in which the violin sets the mood and keeps the whole thing together. There is not as much sentimental romance as a feeling of great artistry and brilliant detail, a glimmering sort of romantic elan. The pieces are mostly nocturnal, a lot like transcriptions of Chopin's nocturnes, but they range from Baroque, Classical to Romantic periods but given a more romantic touch in the tenderness, delicacy , peacefulness and even a drowsiness. It's like a long, beautiful dream or a very elaborately done salon music piece. And perhaps not even that. It's a grand tribute to Romantic music done with the most modern improvisation and solid musicality. Piece after piece seems to want to surpass itself. This is a very ambitious album for Joshua Bell and he succeeded. It's a best-seller. Because I didn't care for the latter tracks 9-13, I'll only comment on 1-8, which are my favorite. The tracks at the end are too clinical and too slow and boring for my tastes. It's romantic but it's too much like a sleep-inducing pill that makes you want to dream romantic dreams, rather than recreating romance on the violin. I don't wish to fall asleep listening to any classical music, so when some music really does make me drowsy, I see it as being badly played.

1: O Mio Babbino Caro from Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi: This Puccini aria "O My Beloved Father" from his comic opera "Gianni" is a soprano's song. The harp at the beginning is a nice touch, and from then on, the violin sings, taking the soprano voice, with all the right notes, both in the middle and high range. The flexibility of the violin, with its deep resonant lower register and sharp high notes, seems to be like a woman's voice. This is a great accompaniment to the aria, even better than the piano and on Joshua Bell's skilled hands, becomes very exciting. Puccini's music transfers well to violin and orchestra and this is an example of the sheer romanticism of the opera. This is and "Casta Diva" are two examples of romantic opera being used to magnificent effect on this album.

2: "The Girl With The Flaxen Hair", Claude Debussy. This late 19th century work of Debussy's was an Impressionistic piece and it has been a popular piece for violin over the years. Apparently Joshua Bell wanted histurn. Far from falling into the deeply sentimental, nostalgic or dream-like, it's a straight-forward but lovely account, not without the appropriate hazy and melancholic "silent film" type of sound that the piece seems to have. Debussy would be proud although there are better renditions.

3: Nocturne No.20 in C Sharp Minor, Frederic Chopin: Chopin's nocturnes are treated well on the violin. Bell is no stranger to works like this one and he employs rubato, tenderness, mystery and produces the most nocturnal and romantic sounds so evocative of Chopin's piano music which graced the salons of Paris. This rendition however, is a little too tame to have any lasting impression. With the numerous nocturnes in Chopin's catalog, the twentieth wasn't, for me, a good choice for this album. There are other nocturnes with a more memorable melody and a more enjoyable and elegant feeling. Perhaps the other nocturnes were tooc challenging for Bell. This one is too bland.

4 "The Swan" from Carnival of the Animals, Camille Saint-Saens: This one really works. It's a classic of violin music, interpreted by former violin masters like Jascha Heifetz and Itzak Pearlman. Bell is again far too technical in his performance, but it's accomplished with grace and balletic elegance, discipline and the results are glorious, as if we're watching a dance in progress, a prima ballerina's solo set to Joshua Bell's violin.

5 Swan Song, Franz Schubert: Schubert's famous Lieder, or songs, were renowned for their poetic beauty and it's a repertoire of song and piano that is very rarely done today. The music is gorgeous, budding with romantic sensitivity and it was the toast of Vienna salons. Schubert's emotional music is perfectly transferred to the violin, which can also, if played right, can appear emotional. This one is a plain song, with wistful rubato and lingering lyricism. For a modern album of a modern violinist like Bell, this is an ambitious and yet very satisfying selection.

6 "Casta Diva" from Bellini's opera Norma: Another ambitious piece. The aria from Bellini's romantic opera "Norma" is a bel canto masterpiece. It received transcriptions for piano in the 19th century by Franz Liszt, who also did various other opera-to-piano transcriptions, a commercially brilliant venture because it offered the rich and middle-class with music sheets for piano so that opera could be heard from inside the home, or for entertaining guests or for a singer to practice singing. "Casta Diva" is no easy song. It's long, lyrical, with sustained, ethereal melody and a strong climax in the middle that is repeated. Few sopranos take on the difficult part of Norma today although Casta Diva is still sung by most lyric and dramatic sopranos. Again, like in the Puccini aria "O Mio Babbino Caro", the violin once again sings, and it is a gorgeous soprano aria, with wistful pianissimi and an ecstatic climax and lovely conclusion. It's why I bought this album. There is no such thing as too many versions of this jewel of the opera.

7: Piano Concerto 21 in C Major, 2nd Movement, Andante, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: This one really stood out because the Academy of St Martin-in-the Fields are experts at the works of Mozart. The Piano Concerto Number 21 has long been admired for its elegance and its romantic charm, and because the 2nd movement was used as the love theme for the 1968 Swedish film "Elvira Madigan", a tragic love story, it has been dubbed the "Elvira Madigan" concerto. The real pleasure here is that it's not done at a slow and dull pace. Many pianists who perform this make the mistake of doing it too slow. It's measured to be performed at a walking or moderate pace "andante", and here, the beat is just right, the pace is perfect, leisurely and elegant but not dull and slow. It's a brilliant violin version of what has to be Mozart's greatest andante piece. It's sunshine, it's tea, it's innocence, it's childhood, it's romantic, it's a magnificent tribute to Mozart's artistry as done on violin. It even seems to one-up the piano version!

8: Dance Of The Blessed Spirits from the opera "Orfeo Ed Euridice", Christoph Willibald Gluck. I would have never guessed that this could turn out so well on violin. It's no surprise. Gluck, a Reconstructionist composer, is said to be responsible for changing the face of Baroque opera to what later became the Classical Opera of Haydn, Salieri and Mozart's time. Gluck made works of brilliant musical qualities, with a majestic Baroque like spirit but with an appeal to the more balanced and classical structure used by composers that followed him. Gluck's Orfeo was a very beautiful and romantic opera and revival productions are still done today. "The Dance of the Blessed Spirits" is all strings and it can appear like some long-forgotten ballet at the cout of King Louis the 14th watching at Versailles. The music is eerie, haunting and ghost-like, but there is a definate dance rhythm, as if ghosts were floating about and waltzing. The harspichord keeps the beat, and provides a most haunting effect but on the violin, the music takes on a better flavor, more romantic, more grandiose. It's a piece that ought to be performed more. It's really stunning and Joshua Bell steps up to the challennge of the Baroque material which is not always easily accomplished on a single violin.

The album shows off Joshua Bell's versatility as a violinist. One could argue that he's really taking on too much too soon, and that he is just doing his razzle-dazzle Mozart-type genius. But when you really listen, it's not at all a one-man show. The orchestra is very prominent and has a terrific resonance of its own. The St. Martin In The Fields orchestra is a major orchestra and does not take second place here. It's more like a very sophisticated support to Joshua Bell's virtuoso violin, which itself takes on the formula, technical artistry and wholeness of a solo performance. It's really a miraculous album. I wonder just how they got away with it. It's possibly Joshua Bell's best album and a glorious tribute album to the music of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic Era. All true classical music enthusiasts should own this and listen to the lustre and beauty of a very well played concert!

very good
I have several of Mr Bells CD's and enjoy all of them. This is the best CD I own. The music is very relaxing and the sound of the strad is awesome. We listen to it nightly (kids) as a bedtime routine and I never tire of it. You would not regret this purchase.

Drippingly romantic!
I played this during my dinner party this week and several of my guests commented on how beautiful the music was! It is a lovely collection and has not one single track that I want to skip when it plays!

Violin playing of the highest beauty
This comment is from my husband, enraptured as he listens (again) to "Romance of the Violin":

"It's just heart-wrenchingly good. I don't know how else to describe how it makes me feel! (Joshua Bell's) abilities...he's amazing--it's just unfathomable what he can do with the music.
It's like there is no human playing the violin; it's like he IS the violin."

Highly recommended. Among our very favorites.

Absolutely beautiful
Bell captures some of the most beautiful and memorable melodies from violin, piano, and opera literature, and his interpretations are rich and haunting. I could listen to his performance of Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits and Borodin's Nocturne for hours straight. I never get tired of this gorgeous collection!