The Essential Joshua Bell

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Editorial Reviews

Barnes & Noble - EJ Johnson
Before moving to Sony, Joshua Bell spent ten years recording for Decca, where the up-and-coming violinist amassed a substantial catalog. Decca has already mined that body of work on The Romantic Violin, a 2004 compilation of cornerstones from the violin repertoire, and The Essential Joshua Bell makes a satisfying companion to the earlier release. Offering a further set of great moments from the virtuoso's burgeoning career, the disc includes such highlights as the opening movement of the Mendelssohn concerto, the finale of the Brahms concerto, and Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen. For those seeking a fuller selection, including complete performances of many of the works ...
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Editorial Reviews

Barnes & Noble - EJ Johnson
Before moving to Sony, Joshua Bell spent ten years recording for Decca, where the up-and-coming violinist amassed a substantial catalog. Decca has already mined that body of work on The Romantic Violin, a 2004 compilation of cornerstones from the violin repertoire, and The Essential Joshua Bell makes a satisfying companion to the earlier release. Offering a further set of great moments from the virtuoso's burgeoning career, the disc includes such highlights as the opening movement of the Mendelssohn concerto, the finale of the Brahms concerto, and Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen. For those seeking a fuller selection, including complete performances of many of the works excerpted here, Decca has also released several volumes in its Joshua Bell edition.
All Music Guide - Patsy Morita
The Essential Joshua Bell is really more a snapshot of Bell's 1990s recordings that attempts to capture the essence of his playing than a "must-have" album. These are all from his days at Decca, before he moved to Sony Classical and started doing more crossover recordings, so the selections are standard violin repertoire items, many familiar -- such as the Mendelssohn and Brahms concertos -- a few less so. What is nice about the excerpts here are that they are not all flash and no substance. Therefore, it does give a good picture of Bell's skills, predominantly the way he has of always finding some joy or beauty in a piece, no matter how serious or dark it is, even more than his virtuosity. The disc also has a good mixture of concertos and chamber music, including a movement from Chausson's "Concert pour piano, violon et quatuor à cordes, Op. 21." There is an Adagio from a Mozart concerto, but the music is primarily from the Romantic era, with the Prokofiev and Bloch thrown in to represent the modern era. The sound quality is generally very good, although there is a noticeable and unflattering difference between the Kreisler tracks, from a 1996 album with pianist Paul Coker, and the Grasse "Waves at Play," from Bell's first album, 1988's Presenting Joshua Bell with pianist Samuel Sanders. There are probably good programatic reasons for the ordering of the works, but swapping the placement of the Grasse and the Prokofiev would have eliminated that difference. This collection is a much better introduction to the skills of Bell than that first album. The only problem is that the single-movement excerpts of larger works will leave listeners wanting more.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 9/13/2005
  • Label: Decca
  • UPC: 028947568506
  • Catalog Number: 000518502
  • Sales rank: 49,838

Tracks

Disc 1
  1. 1 Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64: 1. Allegro molto appassionato - Felix Mendelssohn & Neville Marriner (13:53)
    Composed byFelix Mendelssohn
    Conducted byNeville Marriner
    Performed byNeville Marriner
  2. 2 Concert, for violin, piano & string quartet in D major, Op. 21: 2. Sicilienne - Ernest Chausson & Joshua Bell (4:13)
    Composed byErnest Chausson
  3. 3 Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216: 2. Adagio - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart & Joshua Bell (8:15)
    Composed byWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Conducted byPeter Maag
    Performed byEnglish Chamber Orchestra, Peter Maag
  4. 4 Sonata for violin & piano No. 1 in A major, Op. 13: 4. Allegro quasi presto - Gabriel Fauré & Joshua Bell (5:27)
    Composed byGabriel Fauré
  5. 5 Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77: 3. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace - Johannes Brahms & Joshua Bell (8:08)
    Composed byJohannes Brahms
    Conducted byChristoph von Dohnányi
    Performed byCleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi
  6. 6 Caprice Viennois for violin & piano/orchestra, Op.2 - Fritz Kreisler & Joshua Bell (4:42)
    Composed byFritz Kreisler
  7. 7 March of the Toy Soldiers - Fritz Kreisler & Joshua Bell (1:57)
    Composed byFritz Kreisler
  8. 8 Waves at Play (Wellenspiel), for violin & piano - Edwin Grasse & Joshua Bell (1:50)
    Composed byEdwin Grasse
  9. 9 Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63: 2. Andante assai - Sergey Prokofiev & Joshua Bell (9:46)
    Composed bySergey Prokofiev
    Conducted byCharles Dutoit
    Performed byCharles Dutoit, Montreal Symphony Orchestra
  10. 10 Danse Espagnole for violin & piano (transcription from Falla's La Vida Breve) - Fritz Kreisler & Joshua Bell (3:45)
    Composed byFritz Kreisler
  11. 11 Baal Shem: 3 pictures of Hassidic life, for violin & piano (or orchestra): Nigun (Improvisation) - Ernest Bloch & Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (6:35)
    Composed byErnest Bloch
    Conducted byDavid Zinman
    Performed byBaltimore Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman
  12. 12 Zigeunerweisen, for violin & piano (or orchestra) ("Gypsy Airs"), Op. 20 - Pablo de Sarasate & Joshua Bell (9:03)
    Composed byPablo de Sarasate
    Conducted byAndrew Litton
    Performed byAndrew Litton, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
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Album Credits

Performance Credits
Joshua Bell Primary Artist
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Customer Reviews

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Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Virtuoso Violinist Shares Talent

    Awesome job, of course, demonstrated by Joshua Bell in this latest CD. A compilation of some other CD's. Totally beautiful job. I love the Gypsy Dance, especially. Flawless (in my opinion) playing.

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Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review