French Impressions: Joshua Bell

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Denk identifies the use of colour as being key to the Frenchness of these pieces, and Joshua Bell is certainly not short of timbral variety in this exquisitely played recital. It even beats his... — BBC Music Magazine, March 2012, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 9th Jan 2012
Catalogue No: 88697891822
Label: Sony
Length: 67 minutes

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Saint-Saëns: Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75

Work length22:33

$5.20

$6.80

Joshua Bell (violin), Jeremy Denk (piano)

I. Allegro agitato

Track length6:58

$1.30

$1.70

II. Adagio

Track length5:25

$1.30

$1.70

III. Allegretto moderato

Track length4:14

$1.30

$1.70

IV. Allegro molto

Track length5:56

$1.30

$1.70

Franck, C: Violin Sonata in A major

Work length27:34

$5.20

$6.80

Joshua Bell (violin), Jeremy Denk (piano)

I. Allegretto ben moderato

Track length6:13

$1.30

$1.70

II. Allegro

Track length7:59

$1.30

$1.70

III. Recitativo-Fantasia. Ben moderato - Molto lento

Track length7:18

$1.30

$1.70

IV. Allegretto poco mosso

Track length6:04

$1.30

$1.70

Ravel: Violin Sonata in G major

Work length17:07

$3.90

$5.10

Joshua Bell (violin), Jeremy Denk (piano)

I. Allegretto

Track length7:56

$1.30

$1.70

II. Blues. Moderato

Track length5:28

$1.30

$1.70

III. Perpetuum mobile. Allegretto

Track length3:43

$1.30

$1.70

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About

This is Joshua Bell’s first CD of Sonatas on Sony Classical and it is a passionately nuanced interpretation of works from Saint-Saëns, Franck and Ravel. Joshua Bell is one of the world’s most successful violinists and has won multiple Grammy awards, was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize and named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America. Bell was recently named Music Director for the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields becoming the first person to hold this title since Sir Neville Marriner founded the Orchestra in 1958.

Often referred to as the “poet of the violin”, his 2004 album Romance of the Violin was named the “Classical CD of the Year” by Billboard Magazine, with Bell named “Classical Artist of the Year.”

The three Sonatas chosen for this disc are very different though linked extraneously through their inherent national style:

The Saint-Saëns sonata remains one of the most exciting sonatas in the repertoire; the feverish finale is guaranteed to bring the house down. Bell’s recording of César Franck’s Violin Sonata allows him to pay homage, through his mentor Josef Gingold, to the two great artists who created this undying masterpiece. Written 125 years ago, at the height of the French Belle Epoque for the wedding of his friend, the virtuoso Eugene Ysaÿe (with whom Gingold studied). Ravel’s more fantastic sonata offers a kaleidoscope of different thrills, as seen in the unexpected yet beautiful blending of genres in the slow “Blues” movement of his sonata.

“French Impressions is the culmination of my last decade of exploration and performance with pianist Jeremy Denk, and I hope that with this recording we can affect the listener with the same joy and spiritual enrichment that these masterpieces have provided us with over the years.” Joshua Bell

Reviews

March 2012

Denk identifies the use of colour as being key to the Frenchness of these pieces, and Joshua Bell is certainly not short of timbral variety in this exquisitely played recital. It even beats his compelling Franck disc of 20 years ago. The playing is more relaxed and Bell's delicious use of portamento is achingly beautiful. He is sensitively accompanied by Denk, who has a wonderfully deft touch, captured in excellent sound.

March 2012

Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk, a notably well-matched team, give idiomatic performances of these three sonatas...They're especially adept in maintaing the flow of the musical narrative and, with it, the music's emotional flux....Bell is especially impressive in the moto perpetuo finale - not only thrillingly precise but full of colour and variety, too

27th January 2012

Bell attacks the will o' the wisp final movement [of the Saint-Saens] with a featherlight string of 16th notes that's quite dazzling.

8th January 2012

Joshua Bell plays with fire and finesse, with Denk a powerful ally. Franck's dark-light violin sonata, mysterious, ardent and far more than the sum of its parts when played as majestically as here, forms the centrepiece of this seriously beguiling disc. A first essential purchase for 2012.

18th January 2012

a spirited, varied, sensitively imagined recital...[Bell and Denk] are on equal terms artistically, responding to one another with spontaneity and unanimity in the interpretation of nuances that give their playing a sense that they are inside the music.

19th February 2012

With Bell, you expect a clear, full sound and immaculate technique. What is more surprising is the fluidity he reveals in Saint-Saëns' Sonata No 1 and Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Piano. Jeremy Denk's understated pianism has had a wonderful effect on Bell, loosening him up.

4th February 2012

You’d be hard pressed to find a version of Ravel’s Sonata which offers as much fun as this one; you can visualise Joshua Bell winking as he negotiates the second movement’s insouciant smears and pizzicato notes...This is a great performance [of the Franck], especially in the steady Allegretto of the last movement...Sony’s sound is immaculate.

French Impressions: Joshua Bell

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