I saw Joshua Bell perform the Tchaikovsky Concerto today with the Boston Symphony! FavoriteBoy and I were given free tickets (yay!), and Ellen and Marta came too. It was a good time - despite the near-disaster we had trying to find parking and the horrible traffic on the way back.
Joshua was amazing. His outfit was odd (yes, it was an afternoon concert, but an untucked shirt open at the neck?), but he was amazing. However, I must say that I felt validated as a violinist, because he made mistakes. When I worked on that piece last semester, I felt like I was hitting my head against a wall because it is so hard. But Joshua Bell made mistakes!
The second half of the program was Brahms Symphony No. 4, which was also quite glorious. But not as glorious as the Tchaikovsky Concerto, because the violin is the most glorious instrument there is, and nothing can beat a concerto as amazing as the Tchaikovsky. (Incidentally, if you go to his website using the link above, the music that plays is the Tchaikovsky, because it's the most recent thing he's recorded.)
He always wears an untucked shirt open at the neck, even at Carnegie Hall evening concerts. In fact, I've seen him play probably 10 times (Aspen and various locations in New York), and I've never seen him wear anything else!
ReplyDeleteOk, that is just weird. How does he get away with being so informal?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, don't all violinists make mistakes? I can't imagine that any of them are truly perfect.