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For the week of August 15 - 21, 2001

  Arts & Entertainment

Joshua Bell and the "Tom Taylor" Stradivarius

Interview with a violinist


By ADAM TANOUS
Express Arts Editor

The man gets marriage proposals in the mail and asked for his I.D. in bars. He was on People Magazine’s "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" list. He has made a music video for VH1, and loves to play video games, tennis and golf.

Photo by Timothy White

At first glance, this could be the resume of a pop star, some boy minstrel from ’N Sync. But the resume goes on. The man is an adjunct professor at MIT, plays a $3 million, 1732 Stradivarius violin, and began his professional career as a 14-year-old with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Now he is 33 and a world-renowned violinist. On top of all this, he comes across as a normal, unaffected and personable guy. His name is Joshua Bell, and he will perform Sunday with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony.

Bell most recently recorded "Bernstein: West Side Story Suite," a new arrangement by David Brohn which included a cadenza Bell created himself.

In a recent conference call with the Idaho Mountain Express and journalists from The Saratogian in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the Wood River Journal, Bell discussed a number of topics, including Leonard Bernstein, performing before a live audience versus recording and what he termed his "limited kind of fame."

Q: How do you believe music communicates with people?

Bell: When I think of playing music … I don’t even think of communicating. What music does is it transports people. It is very spiritual. I’m not a religious person, but, for me, music is the closest thing to religion I have … I recently did a performance in London … and I realized then how much the church owes to someone like Bach, because it is unbelievable how spiritual you feel when you hear this music, it shows you a glimpse of something so great and beautiful and awesome. For me, it hits me on spiritual level, certainly on a mental level. It stimulates the mind, challenges the mind … For kids, it is such an important part of an education, because it affects so many parts of the brain—on a mathematical, rational, and on creative level.

Q: Do you think anything else can touch people in this same way?

Bell: This is what I do so I am completely biased, but music most directly touches the soul, you might say. Very few things, maybe falling in love can give you that same feeling.

Q: If you had had the opportunity to speak to Leonard Bernstein, what would you have asked him with regards to music?

Bell: I would love to have played for him and have him describe how he feels, different moods. He was so articulate in the way he talked about music, from what I’ve seen on TV—I never met him. There is no doubt he would have inspired me with his insights. He was such a great character and so full of life … and that is what music is all about.

Q: Do you see any connection between your other interests, say golf, tennis or computers, and violin, or is it just a way to get away from music?

Bell: They are genuine interests of themselves. When I play golf, I don’t think about violin at all. There are similarities in approach to one’s instrument and, say, with golf, the golf ball and club. These inanimate objects that you have to somehow focus your energy and use the right muscles and not use the wrong ones. It’s sort of a zen-like approach, which I find is very similar to drawing a sound out of an instrument. If you use the right muscles and form and relax, you can get create the biggest sound on your instrument. By pressing harder, much less will come out. It’s the same with golf.

Q: Do you ever play a violin any other than your Stradivarius?

Bell: No, I am so connected with it, besides I could never afford another one in addition to this one. I could never switch from one to the other … It becomes an extension of yourself. It gets to the point where what comes out is just what you expect to come out … It’s just like getting to know a person. You know how to deal with them. It’s taken years to really feel I know it.

Q: Do you think in this dry climate you might be surprised by the sound you get?

Bell: I can’t really predict how it will sound in the dry climate … Amazingly, you really don’t have to do too much to these instruments. I try not to mess with it too much. It seems to do fine.

Q: Is there a particular state of mind or sense you try to get before performing a concert?

Bell: Yes. First of all, it really helps to be really well rested before a concert … I always have a two-hour nap before concerts … since the peak of my day has to really be at 8 p.m., I have to pace myself and not overdo it during the day, though I’ve been know to play tennis ... So when the concert rolls around I’m ready to burst with energy. It’s a kind of a meditation in a way, the few hours before … getting into a zone.

Q: I’ve read in other places that ultimately you might like to compose. What is it about composing that appeals to you?

Bell: My only taste has been in writing cadenzas and helping to arrange pieces, like with "West Side Story" ... But even the taste I’ve gotten is an amazing feeling … When you play your own notes there is something very special about it. You really feel like you own it. Of course, you have to feel like you own every piece you play. If you play Brahma you have to pretend, in a way, you’ve written it and own it. And its’ even easier when you have written the notes. It’s scary too, it’s daunting, because, you’ve exposed yourself. When you’ve written something, you’ve exposed yourself that much more to criticism … but, on the other hand, it is very rewarding when people do like it.

Q: Are you conscious of an audience not just listening but watching?

Bell: I don’t really think about what the audience is seeing or thinking …What’s ironic is you can feel them. I do feel like I’m in my own zone when I play, but I can feel their commitment. If they are hanging on every note you really do feel that. It does help having an attentive and concentrating audience ... Also, the reason I don’t like recording as much as live performances is that with live performances you have just one shot at it. I much prefer having just one shot at something. I’ve always been that way, whether it is playing basketball or whatever. The more pressure the better. If someone says for $ 1 million you’ve got to shoot this basket, I’ve got a better chance if I have just one shot at it than if I had several chances. What I mean is I just like going for it in a concert. In recording you might be in the studio for two days, playing over and over again. There’s no way to give the same energy over an 8 hour day … also, you get bogged down worrying about it, because it is so permanent. People can rewind it and listen to it again and again.

Q: Do you still have some anonymity on the street?

Bell: It’s nothing like being a rock musician or movie star. Right now, I have this limited kind of fame, which is kind of fun. But I can’t imagine the fame where you can’t go anywhere.

Q: What do you look forward to?

Bell: There’s still a lot of solo violin repertoire that I haven’t done. There’s a lot of chamber music I want to explore. Finding the right balance is my main goal between chamber music and getting my feet wet with conducting and maybe doing some composing … and to just keep learning.


The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.