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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.
© TiVo
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Violin Concerto In E Minor, Op. 64, MWV O14 (Felix Mendelssohn)
Sir Neville Marriner, Conductor, MainArtist - Felix Mendelssohn, Composer - Chris Hazell, Producer - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Orchestra, MainArtist - Stanley Goodall, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1988 Decca Music Group Limited
Concert for Piano, Violin and String Quartet, Op. 21 (Ernest Chausson)
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Ernest Chausson, Composer - Paul Myers, Producer - John Dunkerley, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Takács Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
℗ 1990 Decca Music Group Limited
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216 (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer - English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra, MainArtist - Simon Eadon, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Peter Maag, Conductor, MainArtist - Ray Minshull, Producer
℗ 1992 Decca Music Group Limited
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in A, Op. 13 (Gabriel Fauré)
Gabriel Fauré, Composer - Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Cornall, Producer - James Lock, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1989 Decca Music Group Limited
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 (Johannes Brahms)
Johannes Brahms, Composer - Paul Myers, Producer - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Christoph von Dohnanyi, Conductor, MainArtist - The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestra, MainArtist - James Lock, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1996 Decca Music Group Limited
Caprice viennois op.2 (Fritz Kreisler)
Fritz Kreisler, Composer - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Morten Winding, Producer - Marc-Olivier Dupin, Arranger, Orchestrator - Paul Coker, Piano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1996 Decca Music Group Limited
Toy Soldiers' March (Fritz Kreisler)
Fritz Kreisler, Composer - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Morten Winding, Producer - Paul Coker, Piano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1996 Decca Music Group Limited
Waves at play (Wellenspiel) (Edwin Grasse)
Paul Myers, Producer - Samuel Sanders, Piano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Edwin Grasse, Composer - Stanley Goodall, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1988 Decca Music Group Limited
Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63 (Sergei Prokofiev)
Sergei Prokofiev, Composer - Charles Dutoit, Conductor, MainArtist - Orchestre Symphonique De Montreal, Orchestra, MainArtist - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1993 Decca Music Group Limited
La vida breve / Act 2 (Manuel de Falla)
Fritz Kreisler, Arranger, Work Arranger - Manuel De Falla, Composer - Paul Myers, Producer - Carlos Fernández Shaw, Author - Samuel Sanders, Piano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Stanley Goodall, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1988 Decca Music Group Limited
Baal Shem (Nigun) (Ernest Bloch)
Chris Hazell, Producer - Simon Eadon, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ernest Bloch, Composer - David Zinman, Conductor, MainArtist - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra, MainArtist
℗ 1997 Decca Music Group Limited
Zigeunerweisen, Op.20 (Pablo de Sarasate)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra, MainArtist - Paul Myers, Producer - Joshua Bell, Violin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Pablo de Sarasate, Composer - Andrew Litton, Conductor, MainArtist - Colin Moorfoot, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1991 Decca Music Group Limited
Album review
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.
© TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
- Total length: 01:16:42
- Main artists: Joshua Bell
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Decca Music Group Ltd.
- Genre: Classical
© 2005 Decca Music Group Limited This Compilation ℗ 2005 Decca Music Group Limited
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