Joshua Bell and Lang Lang transcend troubled times in Washington with music — review

On an unseasonably temperate evening in Washington, DC — the sort of evening when you could almost hear the cherry buds stirring con brio — Indiana-born violinist Joshua Bell strolled on to the stage at the Kennedy Center, not far from the excruciatingly divided heart of American power, and reminded us that all is not lost: in life, in politics, in art and definitely not in the music we generally call “classical”. Bell was joined by Peter Dugan, the multitalented 32-year-old pianist, Philadelphia native and host of NPR’s beloved From the Top. What followed was a first-class American recital executed with flair, nuance and technical prowess; a proper joy to behold.

Their repertoire was not exactly radical, brimful as it was of the romantic European gems in which Bell has always excelled: Beethoven’s exuberant Violin Sonata No 1, composed in the final years of the 18th century, via glorious sonatas from Robert Schumann and César Franck, to Ernest Bloch’s moving “Nigun” from his Baal Shem Suite, composed in 1924. It was an unashamed celebration of a golden era of violin playing.

Bell even inadvertently implied this when introducing the second of their two encores. Bloch, as he reminded us, studied violin with Eugène Ysaÿe —the “biggest rock star of the violin, when violinists were rock stars”. Ysaÿe — who was taught by Henryk Wieniawski, composer of the encore — in turn taught Josef Gingold, who went on to teach a young . . . Joshua Bell. He hurriedly clarified, “Not to be putting myself in any way in that line!”

Presenting this very familiar music — even Clara Schumann’s Romance No 1, their first encore, is now programmed with some regularity — with such breathtaking excellence, Bell and Dugan were able to cast these pieces into new relief. No wonder the standing ovation was instantaneous, the atmosphere as warm inside the hall as the breeze rolling off the Potomac outside.

The music of Robert Schumann also provided the opener in an earlier solo recital in the same hall. As politicians and lawmakers up the road argued with each other about the newly downed Chinese spy balloon, Chinese pianist Lang Lang seemed to quietly — and not undiplomatically — moot the idea that other things with the power to transcend national boundaries were available, if we cared to listen. After the short but musically rich Arabeske in C major, the rest of his programme was comprised of JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

Lang Lang, whose personal circumstances seem to have engendered a new maturity in his playing — last year he turned 40 and became a father — is still a dazzling and fascinating musician. Some of his more curious interpretive decisions, especially in his tempi, dynamics and rubato, worked; some did not. I had my reservations about the wisdom of performing that particular repertoire, in that space. But the power of Lang Lang’s presence is immense and multi-dimensional; I would argue that it almost doesn’t matter if the particulars of his Quodlibet, for example, were lost on some. (The Kennedy Center concert hall was crawling with very young fans.)

Maybe his encores, both of which came from Disney movies — Stephen Hough’s gorgeous arrangement of “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins, and “Reflection” from Mulan — were enough.

★★★★☆

kennedy-center.org