Joshua Bell: A Personal Four Seasons

September 23rd 2008, by Tobias |

Joshua Bell is presenting his very own version of Vivaldi's „Four Seasons“. Described by his record company Sony as „cinematic and sumptuous“, the album is a joint effort with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, with whom he toured the „Seasons“, and juxtaposes this classic piece of programmatic music with Tartini's „The Devil's Trill“ - a concise virtual encore for an album otherwhise dedicated entirely to Vivaldi. Proactively anticipating questions about the relevance of recording one of the most popular works of the classical canon again, Joshua Bell commented: “You will never hear two versions of The Four Seasons that are alike, which is why I think there is always room for another view of the piece. My version is very personal. One could go overboard and make everything too pretty, and it’s nice to have the gutsier side of Baroque music. The [players] I admire in Baroque music really dig into it, and the violinists play with great abandon. I think with The Four Seasons you can’t be too deferential.” The album has already garnered some extremely positive pre-release press and has been put in line with some of the most successful post-Nigel Kennedy renditions, including Anne-Sophie Mutter's and the slender chamber music version championed by Jeanine Jansen.

Just like Jansen, Joshua Bell saw no need for a conductor, relying on the congenial interaction with the musicians of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields instead: „“Certainly in the Baroque time it would have been unheard of to have a middle man conducting while the violinist was playing the music“, he explained his position on the subject, „When you don’t have a conductor you also have a different feeling with the orchestra because they feel much more empowered. This particular recording we did at the culmination of a big tour where we played The Four Seasons night after night, and from night to night we changed things, experimented with things and everyone had suggestions. It was very much a team feeling.”

The European edition of Joshua Bells' „Four Seasons“ will include Open Disc technology, allowing customers to access additional information. This will include a specially recorded artist message, an exclusive audio- and video section, a „Q&A“ with Joshua Bell as well as a photo gallery. Some of these sections are remarkably sizeable and include track by track commentary, demos and unreleases tracks among others.

Homepage: Joshua Bell
Homepage: Sony Classical