Press Releases
JOSHUA BELL AND JEREMY DENK MAKE “FRENCH IMPRESSIONS” RECORDING
WORKS BY RAVEL, SAINT-SAËNS AND FRANCK
AT LANDMARK NEW MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MUSEUM IN PHOENIX
AVAILABLE JANUARY 10 WORLDWIDE FROM SONY CLASSICAL
On JOSHUA BELL’s new album, FRENCH IMPRESSIONS, Grammy-award-winning violinist Bell and his longtime friend and recital partner, pianist Jeremy Denk offer a passionately nuanced interpretation of works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Franck. French Impressions boasts a number of milestones: it’s Bell’s first CD of sonatas since joining Sony Classical in 1996; it is Bell’s and Denk’s first recital album together, and it’s the first commercial recording made at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Produced by multiple Grammy-award-winner Steven Epstein, French Impressions will be released January 10 on Sony Classical and features Camille Saint- Saëns Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in D minor Op 75 (1885); César Franck Violin Sonata in A Major (1886), and Maurice Ravel Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927).
César Franck’s Violin Sonata is Bell’s homage to his mentor, Josef Gingold, with whom he studied at Indiana University in Bloomington. The sonata honors Bell’s lineage as a violinist going back to Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaÿe for whom Cesar Franck wrote this very piece on the occasion of Ysaÿe’s wedding. Gingold, whom Bell has described as “the most memorable and significant person in my musical life,” was a student of the Ysaÿe, and first introduced Bell to the work at age 12 at his studio. Bell relishes the memory of Gingold describing and imitating the nuance and charm Ysaÿe brought to the sonata and today regards Ysaÿe as his “musical grandfather.”
“Gingold captivated me with his affection for these three jewels of the violin/piano repertoire --Franck, Ravel, and the Saint- Saëns sonatas. This is music notable for its nuance, sensuality, and transcendent beauty, and one's contemplation of these profound works is a life-long journey. French Impressions is the culmination of my last decade of exploration and performance with pianist Jeremy Denk, and I hope that with this recording we can affect the listener with the same joy and spiritual enrichment that these masterpieces have provided us with over the years,” says Bell.”
Each of the sonatas features romantic moments which traverse lyrical sweetness to urgent drama and reveal enchantingly complex and challenging layers of sound. Franck’s Violin Sonata in A Major, written at the height of the French Bell Epoque, is a work of uncommon beauty and expressive elegance. The oldest of the French composers on the CD, Franck was born in Belgium in 1822, but it was in Paris where he became a citizen and made his career as a composer and teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. Franck’s attention to instrumental music rather than opera made him an influential musical force in his country, with his sonata being regarded as an important component of French chamber repertoire.
Saint-Saëns, born in 1835, was revered as a piano prodigy. At age 13 he crossed paths with Franck upon entering the Paris Conservatoire and it was in Paris where he wrote the Violin Sonata in D Minor, his first of two, among famous works including “The Swan” and “The Carnival of the Animals.” The gentle singing violin motto, heard in the sonata’s first and last movements, is believed to have inspired writer Marcel Proust to imagine the “Vinteuil sonata” that is a virtual love theme in the first part of his great novel known in English as Remembrance of Things Past. Today, the Saint-Saëns remains one of the most exciting sonatas in the repertoire, the piece features rich sensuality contained with a formal scheme, and gloriously feverish finale.
Ravel was born in 1875 and lived in Paris after he turned 6. His elegant music has him arguably regarded today as a “Post Impressionist.” His sonata, at turns ethereal, earthy, abstract and sensual, offers a kaleidoscope of different thrills, as seen in the unexpected yet beautiful blending of genres in the slow “Blues” movement of his sonata.
Denk and Bell’s collaboration was a long time in the making. Denk was entering Indiana University as Bell was graduating; Denk studied with pianist György Sebök, whose close friend and esteemed teaching and chamber-music colleague was Josef Gingold. Both Bell and Denk would hear of each other over the years, until they finally performed together at the Spoleto Festival in 2004. They have performed more than 80 recitals since then, including many performances of the works recorded for this CD. When Bell and Denk performed Saint-Saëns Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor during their 2010 recital tour, The New York Times raved “Mr. Bell and Mr. Denk gave a passionate performance…There were plenty of fireworks in the whirlwind of the concluding movement.” And a Philadelphia critic noted their "equal partnership, with no upstaging.” Denk also joined Bell in-studio, performing on the recent At Home with Friends CD.
Mr. Bell and Mr. Denk’s CD is unique in being the first commercial recording made at the MIM Music Theater located within the Musical Instrument Museum, a 192,000 square foot complex that includes the 299-seat theater and audio-video enhanced exhibits featuring musical instruments from every country in the world, drawn from MIM’s vast collection of over 15,000 instruments and objects. Since its opening on April 24, 2010, MIM has become a significant addition to the worldwide community of museums devoted to music making and musical culture.
With more than 36 original albums to his credit, Bell has captured the public’s attention like no other classical violinist of his time, enchanting audiences worldwide with his breathtaking playing and tone of rare beauty, as performed on his legendary 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius violin and his late 18th century French bow by Francois Tourte. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra leader, Bell has earned countless awards and honors for his work as a concert stage performer and recording artist. He has won multiple Grammy awards, was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize and named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America. Bell was recently named Music Director for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields becoming the first American and first person to hold this title since Sir Neville Marriner founded the Orchestra in 1958. Bell has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, he serves on the artist committee of the Kennedy Center Honors and most recently was named to the board of directors of the New York Philharmonic.
Often referred to as the “poet of the violin,” his 2004 album Romance of the Violin was named the “Classical CD of the Year” by Billboard Magazine, with Bell named “Classical Artist of the Year.” In the national spotlight since age 14 (when he made his acclaimed orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra), and a recording artist since age 18, Bell has been an exclusive Sony Music artist for more than a decade. Acclaimed for the wide range of music he has chosen to record, Bell’s output ranges from collaborations with a wide range of artists on At Home With Friends, to mainstream classical concertos by Sibelius and Beethoven, a live recording with the Berlin Philharmonic (Tchaikovsky concerto), and including the bluegrass inspired Short Trip Home, the jazz influenced Gershwin Fantasy, the Bernstein-inspired West Side Story Suite and many others. His interest in film is particularly notable, having performed all the violin solos in The Red Violin, helping the film win an Oscar for the “Best Original Score” (written by John Corigliano). He has received recognition beyond his awards that are not common to most classical artists, having been the first musician to have a classical music video played on VH1, to appearing as himself on Sesame Street and alongside Meryl Streep in Music of the Heart. Gramophone has said “Bell is dazzling,” while the Washington Post has heralded Bell as “one of the finest musicians of his generation.” www.joshuabell.com
American pianist Jeremy Denk has steadily built a reputation as one of today’s most compelling and persuasive artists with an unusually broad repertoire. He has appeared as soloist with many major orchestras, including the Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, New World, St. Louis, and San Francisco Symphonies, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and London Philharmonia. Last season he played concertos by Beethoven, Copland, Mozart, Schumann, and Stravinsky, whose Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments he performed under the direction of John Adams, first with the London Symphony Orchestra in London and Paris, and then as part of Carnegie Hall’s City Noir. He appears often in recital in New York, Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia. During the 2010-11 season Denk released his first solo recording, Jeremy Denk Plays Ives, on which he plays Charles Ives’s Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 (“Concord”). He also returns to Carnegie Hall for his second solo recital, in works by Ligeti and Bach, and a concerto appearance, featuring Liszt’s First with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, after performances together in Philadelphia. Working often with contemporary composers, Denk has participated in premieres by Jake Heggie, Libby Larsen, Kevin Putz, and Ned Rorem. He has recorded works by Leon Kirchner and Tobias Picker. “Think Denk”, the popular blog where he writes of some of his experiences and gives detailed musical analyses, has been praised by colleagues and the press. The New Yorker called him a “superb musician who writes with arresting sensitivity and wit”; the Richmond Times said “Mr. Denk is the ideal interpreter for music that defies easy classification”, and The Washington Post referred to his “Brilliant Playing at the Edge of Schumann’s Sanity.” www.jeremydenk.net
RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical, deutsche harmonia mundi, Masterworks Broadway and Masterworks Jazz are labels of Sony Masterworks. For e-mail updates and information regarding RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical, deutsche harmonia mundi, Masterworks Broadway and Masterworks Jazz artists, promotions, tours and repertoire, please visit www.sonymasterworks.com.
To learn more about the new Musical Instrument Museum, visit www.theMIM.org
For more information please contact:
Sony Masterworks: Angela Barkan / Larissa Slezak;
212.833-8575 / 6075; angela.barkan@sonymusic.com; larissa.slezak@sonymusic.com
Jane Covner JAG Entertainment
(818) 905-5511, jcovner@jagpr.com
WORKS BY RAVEL, SAINT-SAËNS AND FRANCK
AT LANDMARK NEW MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MUSEUM IN PHOENIX
AVAILABLE JANUARY 10 WORLDWIDE FROM SONY CLASSICAL
On JOSHUA BELL’s new album, FRENCH IMPRESSIONS, Grammy-award-winning violinist Bell and his longtime friend and recital partner, pianist Jeremy Denk offer a passionately nuanced interpretation of works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Franck. French Impressions boasts a number of milestones: it’s Bell’s first CD of sonatas since joining Sony Classical in 1996; it is Bell’s and Denk’s first recital album together, and it’s the first commercial recording made at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Produced by multiple Grammy-award-winner Steven Epstein, French Impressions will be released January 10 on Sony Classical and features Camille Saint- Saëns Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in D minor Op 75 (1885); César Franck Violin Sonata in A Major (1886), and Maurice Ravel Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927).
César Franck’s Violin Sonata is Bell’s homage to his mentor, Josef Gingold, with whom he studied at Indiana University in Bloomington. The sonata honors Bell’s lineage as a violinist going back to Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaÿe for whom Cesar Franck wrote this very piece on the occasion of Ysaÿe’s wedding. Gingold, whom Bell has described as “the most memorable and significant person in my musical life,” was a student of the Ysaÿe, and first introduced Bell to the work at age 12 at his studio. Bell relishes the memory of Gingold describing and imitating the nuance and charm Ysaÿe brought to the sonata and today regards Ysaÿe as his “musical grandfather.”
“Gingold captivated me with his affection for these three jewels of the violin/piano repertoire --Franck, Ravel, and the Saint- Saëns sonatas. This is music notable for its nuance, sensuality, and transcendent beauty, and one's contemplation of these profound works is a life-long journey. French Impressions is the culmination of my last decade of exploration and performance with pianist Jeremy Denk, and I hope that with this recording we can affect the listener with the same joy and spiritual enrichment that these masterpieces have provided us with over the years,” says Bell.”
Each of the sonatas features romantic moments which traverse lyrical sweetness to urgent drama and reveal enchantingly complex and challenging layers of sound. Franck’s Violin Sonata in A Major, written at the height of the French Bell Epoque, is a work of uncommon beauty and expressive elegance. The oldest of the French composers on the CD, Franck was born in Belgium in 1822, but it was in Paris where he became a citizen and made his career as a composer and teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. Franck’s attention to instrumental music rather than opera made him an influential musical force in his country, with his sonata being regarded as an important component of French chamber repertoire.
Saint-Saëns, born in 1835, was revered as a piano prodigy. At age 13 he crossed paths with Franck upon entering the Paris Conservatoire and it was in Paris where he wrote the Violin Sonata in D Minor, his first of two, among famous works including “The Swan” and “The Carnival of the Animals.” The gentle singing violin motto, heard in the sonata’s first and last movements, is believed to have inspired writer Marcel Proust to imagine the “Vinteuil sonata” that is a virtual love theme in the first part of his great novel known in English as Remembrance of Things Past. Today, the Saint-Saëns remains one of the most exciting sonatas in the repertoire, the piece features rich sensuality contained with a formal scheme, and gloriously feverish finale.
Ravel was born in 1875 and lived in Paris after he turned 6. His elegant music has him arguably regarded today as a “Post Impressionist.” His sonata, at turns ethereal, earthy, abstract and sensual, offers a kaleidoscope of different thrills, as seen in the unexpected yet beautiful blending of genres in the slow “Blues” movement of his sonata.
Denk and Bell’s collaboration was a long time in the making. Denk was entering Indiana University as Bell was graduating; Denk studied with pianist György Sebök, whose close friend and esteemed teaching and chamber-music colleague was Josef Gingold. Both Bell and Denk would hear of each other over the years, until they finally performed together at the Spoleto Festival in 2004. They have performed more than 80 recitals since then, including many performances of the works recorded for this CD. When Bell and Denk performed Saint-Saëns Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor during their 2010 recital tour, The New York Times raved “Mr. Bell and Mr. Denk gave a passionate performance…There were plenty of fireworks in the whirlwind of the concluding movement.” And a Philadelphia critic noted their "equal partnership, with no upstaging.” Denk also joined Bell in-studio, performing on the recent At Home with Friends CD.
Mr. Bell and Mr. Denk’s CD is unique in being the first commercial recording made at the MIM Music Theater located within the Musical Instrument Museum, a 192,000 square foot complex that includes the 299-seat theater and audio-video enhanced exhibits featuring musical instruments from every country in the world, drawn from MIM’s vast collection of over 15,000 instruments and objects. Since its opening on April 24, 2010, MIM has become a significant addition to the worldwide community of museums devoted to music making and musical culture.
With more than 36 original albums to his credit, Bell has captured the public’s attention like no other classical violinist of his time, enchanting audiences worldwide with his breathtaking playing and tone of rare beauty, as performed on his legendary 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius violin and his late 18th century French bow by Francois Tourte. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra leader, Bell has earned countless awards and honors for his work as a concert stage performer and recording artist. He has won multiple Grammy awards, was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize and named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America. Bell was recently named Music Director for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields becoming the first American and first person to hold this title since Sir Neville Marriner founded the Orchestra in 1958. Bell has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, he serves on the artist committee of the Kennedy Center Honors and most recently was named to the board of directors of the New York Philharmonic.
Often referred to as the “poet of the violin,” his 2004 album Romance of the Violin was named the “Classical CD of the Year” by Billboard Magazine, with Bell named “Classical Artist of the Year.” In the national spotlight since age 14 (when he made his acclaimed orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra), and a recording artist since age 18, Bell has been an exclusive Sony Music artist for more than a decade. Acclaimed for the wide range of music he has chosen to record, Bell’s output ranges from collaborations with a wide range of artists on At Home With Friends, to mainstream classical concertos by Sibelius and Beethoven, a live recording with the Berlin Philharmonic (Tchaikovsky concerto), and including the bluegrass inspired Short Trip Home, the jazz influenced Gershwin Fantasy, the Bernstein-inspired West Side Story Suite and many others. His interest in film is particularly notable, having performed all the violin solos in The Red Violin, helping the film win an Oscar for the “Best Original Score” (written by John Corigliano). He has received recognition beyond his awards that are not common to most classical artists, having been the first musician to have a classical music video played on VH1, to appearing as himself on Sesame Street and alongside Meryl Streep in Music of the Heart. Gramophone has said “Bell is dazzling,” while the Washington Post has heralded Bell as “one of the finest musicians of his generation.” www.joshuabell.com
American pianist Jeremy Denk has steadily built a reputation as one of today’s most compelling and persuasive artists with an unusually broad repertoire. He has appeared as soloist with many major orchestras, including the Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, New World, St. Louis, and San Francisco Symphonies, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and London Philharmonia. Last season he played concertos by Beethoven, Copland, Mozart, Schumann, and Stravinsky, whose Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments he performed under the direction of John Adams, first with the London Symphony Orchestra in London and Paris, and then as part of Carnegie Hall’s City Noir. He appears often in recital in New York, Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia. During the 2010-11 season Denk released his first solo recording, Jeremy Denk Plays Ives, on which he plays Charles Ives’s Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 (“Concord”). He also returns to Carnegie Hall for his second solo recital, in works by Ligeti and Bach, and a concerto appearance, featuring Liszt’s First with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, after performances together in Philadelphia. Working often with contemporary composers, Denk has participated in premieres by Jake Heggie, Libby Larsen, Kevin Putz, and Ned Rorem. He has recorded works by Leon Kirchner and Tobias Picker. “Think Denk”, the popular blog where he writes of some of his experiences and gives detailed musical analyses, has been praised by colleagues and the press. The New Yorker called him a “superb musician who writes with arresting sensitivity and wit”; the Richmond Times said “Mr. Denk is the ideal interpreter for music that defies easy classification”, and The Washington Post referred to his “Brilliant Playing at the Edge of Schumann’s Sanity.” www.jeremydenk.net
RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical, deutsche harmonia mundi, Masterworks Broadway and Masterworks Jazz are labels of Sony Masterworks. For e-mail updates and information regarding RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical, deutsche harmonia mundi, Masterworks Broadway and Masterworks Jazz artists, promotions, tours and repertoire, please visit www.sonymasterworks.com.
To learn more about the new Musical Instrument Museum, visit www.theMIM.org
For more information please contact:
Sony Masterworks: Angela Barkan / Larissa Slezak;
212.833-8575 / 6075; angela.barkan@sonymusic.com; larissa.slezak@sonymusic.com
Jane Covner JAG Entertainment
(818) 905-5511, jcovner@jagpr.com
Tour Dates
| Date | Location | Tickets |
|---|---|---|
|
Feb
22
|
London, England | |
|
Feb
24
|
Valladolid, Spain | |
|
Feb
25
|
Oviedo, Spain | |
|
Feb
28
|
Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain |
