Various Composers - Romance Of The Violin [Bell/Stern- Academy Of Saint Martin In The Fields]
This is pure indulgence, in essence a bunch of fabulous tunes dressed up [piano / chamber], or dressed down [Opera arias] to fit the 'violin & orchestra' mode, in many ways fairly sugary, but all well transcribed and fitting, the orchestral arrangements are by Craig Leon, and the solo violin line is mainly by Bell, this album really works for me, and early in my Blog, i wrote about the previous outing of this disc [21st February 2010], though i do feel it's somewhat short measure [52 minutes], a few more well chosen pieces wouldn't have gone astray.
Joshua Bell is American, born in 1967 [now 43 years old], he made this recording in 2003, it was his first recording with his 'new' 300 year old $4 million Strad!, and it certainly makes a lovely sound, so far he's sold 5 million copies of this album, the photography throughout is stunning [by Timothy White], Bell photographed late in the evening, i take it a brown filter, lovely blackness, and with Bell himself highlighted, it's a lovely all round package.
I'd like to mention a couple of tracks, track 7, the Andante middle movement from Mozart's Piano Concerto 21, there's a wonderful rolling sweep to his melody, the violins are gorgeous, and track 11, i love the baroque sensibilities of Monteverdi's Pur Ti Miro, the opening harpsichord really sets the mood, it's a piece i didn't know before, so it's good to make the acquaintance, but deep down it was track 12, Massenet's Elegie that impressed me the most, in fact reading the booklet notes, it happens to be Bell's favourite too!, originally it was a piano piece, but Massenet later made it into a song, it has a very simple melody, and yet... the most simple melodies can have the most complex emotions attached to them!, after a subdued orchestral intro, the violin plays the main melody [0:36-1:21], with a degree of sadness and longing, certainly subdued compared to what's coming next, it really develops a passion and intensity [1:45-3:11], with very strong lunges on the heartstrings, this is the most glorious part of this piece, and then there's a refrain which is like an innocent sigh! [3:11-3:28], which soon swoons into passion again, it's such an endearing piece, once it gets in your head and heart, it's in there for good!.
Here's Joshua Bell playing the Massenet Elegie on YouTube.
