Joshua Bell Romance of the Violin
Released: October 28, 2003 Origination Year: 2003 Time: 78:24 Tracks: 13 Produced by: N/A Style: Studio Format: CD Enhancement: None Label:Sony Classical Website: www.joshuabell.com
Track Listing O mio babbino caro - Puccini The Girk With Flaxen Hair - Debussy Nocturne in C sharp minor - Chopin The Swan - Saint-Saens Serenade - Schubert Casta Diva - Bellini Andante from Piano Concerto #21 - Mozart Dance of the Blessed Spirits - Gluck Nocturne from Quartet #2 - Borodin Songs My Mother Taught Me - Dvorak Pur ti Miro - Monteverdi Elegie - Massenet Traumerai - Schumann
Joshua Bell

Most people understand that God created the Heavens and The Earth in six days and rested on the seventh. What they may not know is that on the eighth day, He created the violin. It is truly God’s whistle that emanates from the instrument; it takes an extremely gifted individual to derive the “whistle of God” from its small frame.

Joshua Bell is such a performer. Born in 1967, Bell picked up the violin at the young age of only three. He began intensive study under the tutelage of renowned violinist, Joseph Gingold at 12 and the rest is history. And the history of Joshua Bell is immense and varied. It’s recommended that you investigate his accomplishments and achievements; his awards and accolades, as you’ll be amazed by what you’ll find.

I love classical music. Although I’m not schooled in it and know little of its language, I know what is from the heart and what is just simply played. Bell’s command of the instrument isn’t one of mastery, although he is unquestionably a master. Bell’s communion with the violin is that of connection. It’s not his expert manipulations of the strings; it’s his becoming one with it. When notes are extracted from the violin known affectionately as The Gibson Ex Huberman, it’s a weave of music that is alive.

Joshua Bell’s violin, a Stradivari handcraft created in 1713 was made during the maker’s “Golden Period" and has a history of its own. The violin used to belong to world renown violinist, Bronislaw Huberman. The violin, left unattended briefly during a concert in Carnegie Hall in 1936, was stolen and never recovered in the violinist's lifetime. Some years later, in a deathbed confession, the thief admitted to the theft and returned the violin. The violin had been used by the thief, in his smoky cabaret appearances, unnoticed for many years and thus, fell into a filthy state of disrepair. Once the years of accumulated grime was carefully stripped away, taking months of painstaking restoration for the instrument, the red finish of the violin shone through once again. The violin was then purchased by another violinist where, in time, it ended up in the artful hands of Joshua Bell. It is this violin that you hear on this CD.

Bell’s Romance of the Violin is a collection of 13 strong pieces by a handful of the world’s greatest masters. The selections and where they place on the disc provide a smoothly flowing transition from piece to piece. Delicate, the violin interpretations are always at the forefront while the selection is filled in with an orchestral background, at times, accentuated by flute and other woodwind.

Debussy’s expressive “The Girl With Flaxen Hair” is performed here with intimacy that is felt as much as heard. The violin delivers softly sensual evocations of love that is infused with a bittersweet sadness, over too soon at only 2 and a half minutes. Likewise, Puccini’s heartbreaking “O mio babbino caro” is lovingly recreated with the same elements that are found on “The Girl With the Flaxen Hair”.

The tender “The Swan” by Saint-Saens has Bell’s violin awash in a flux of emotions, rising and softly concluding, moving onto Schubert’s “Serenade”. The collection is rounded out by Mozart’s extraordinary “Adante from Piano Concert No. 21” and the operatic “Dance of the Blessed Spirit” by Christoph Gluck to Dvorak’s hauntingly beautiful and aptly interpreted, “Songs My Mother Taught Me”.

The album tracks have a commonality amongst them, that of shared beauty. Soft, extraordinary, emotional - these tracks become a gift that is as varied as the pieces' original composers.

Joshua Bell is clearly the ascendant violinist of this time. On Romance of the Violin, Bell puts emotion and life into these collected reproductions of the masters, infusing a quality that moves the pieces into another realm. These short pieces create a sort of ‘greatest hits’ feel to the overall presentation without reducing the effect of the quality of this Sony Classical release.

I’m sure that God whistles quite beautifully, but I’m willing to bet that He stops long enough to listen to Joshua Bell when he plays his Stradivarius.