Joshua Bell looks to make classical current

concertreview: February 11th, Page Auditorium

The man behind the Billboard Classical Chart’s 13-week sensation Romance of the Violin is the dashing Joshua Bell—a Grammy-award winning violin virtuoso with a record of achievements as varied as his repertoire. His artistry and accolades include 27 recorded albums, a solo performance in The Red Violin movie soundtrack, frequent performances with top orchestras and a place on People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” list.

Even with his intense international tour schedule, Bell performed at Duke last Friday to a sold-out Page Auditorium as part of the DukePerformances series. The program encompassed a range of works from Brahms' “Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano” composed in 1879 to a sonata by Janácek from 1921. The five works on the program featured musical prowess and true talent, as Bell played technically and interpretively demanding pieces with seemingly effortless finesse. Eyes closed, his trademark shaggy brown hair bouncing up and down with every accented note, Bell also captured the energy and fervor of the pieces, playing “in the moment” and captivating the audience as a result. The audience held its breath collectively as Bell pulled off a notoriously difficult passage in Saint-Saëns’ “Sonata No. 1” with uncompromising clarity, precise intonation, and fingers flying so fast they blurred.

Bell also graciously hosted a “meet and greet” session with the Duke Symphony Orchestra earlier in the day. “Joshua Bell is friendly and funny, and seems like a guy you'd want to hang out with,” says Duke senior and violinist Sarah Zaman. “But when he plays, you remember why you're in awe of him: he's a virtuoso, but more than that, he draws you in with his emotional stage presence.”

With the reverberations of Bell’s final note still lingering in the air and his bow poised over the strings, the crowd waited for the moment to finally exhale and burst into thunderous applause. After concluding the concert with a showy Wieniawski piece—and after three curtain calls—Bell commented that “Wieniawski is really the closest thing violinists have to [piano composer] Chopin.” He followed this statement with an enchanting arrangement of Chopin's famous “Nocturne” as an encore. Now, if only more people could remember to bring cough drops to concerts during cold season.