KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 —The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra ended its 2017/2018 season on a high with American violin virtuoso Joshua Bell last weekend.
He last performed with the MPO in 2004 and 2007, in sellout concerts.
The Grammy award-winning violinist and former child prodigy enchanted audiences with Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 and Pablo Saraste’s Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20.
Bruch’s first violin concerto was one of the composer’s finest works but classical music pundits also say it is a tough one to execute that requires the soloist to perform some remarkable finger gymnastics, showcasing what the violin can really do.
Bell, who was dressed in a black shirt and black trousers combination, transfixed audiences within the first four notes when he began playing Bruch’s brooding and intense composition that starts with gypsy-like sounds before reaching its energetic and robust conclusion.
No surprises there really.
After all, we are talking about a musician who started learning the violin when he was four, made his debut as a soloist at 14 and performed at Carnegie Hall when he was 17.
You might also read about his incognito busking at a subway in 2007 for a Washington Post experiment.
Coincidentally, Bruch’s first violin concerto was Bell’s first recording in 1988.
That evening, not only was the audience in the presence of a classical music great, it was a chance to see the much-talked-about 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius violin.
Bell’s antique violin has a colourful history —it was stolen twice from its previous owner before Bell purchased it for nearly US$4 million (RM16 million).
After Bruch, Bell enchanted a packed Dewan Filharmonik Petronas with Zigeunerweisen, bringing a slice of Hungarian gypsy life to Kuala Lumpur before leaving the MPO and conductor Mark Wigglesworth to continue with Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E major.
Bell’s performance at the MPO may have only lasted for 35 minutes, the audience (including yours truly) was hoping he would remerge on stage at the end for an encore but he did not.
Nevertheless, it was impressive for the philharmonic to land such a big name to conclude the season. We were told last year by former general manager Timothy Tsukamoto that it took years of planning to secure Bell as performer.
As the MPO marks its 20th anniversary in August, the new season includes a gala concert, performances by violinists Ray Chen and Soyoung Yoon and American vintage music band, Pink Martini.
“We had a very interesting Season 17/18, with diverse repertoire and a variety of entertainment, ranging from the much-loved Beethoven piano concertos, to Bernstein music, anime music, ballet, cirque and the more popular Malay music of Ella and Ruth Sahayana, with Joshua Bell crowning the season’s offerings with a splendid rendition of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1,” said MPO and DFP chief executive officer Raina Yeong Abdullah.
“We are most grateful for the patronage of our loyal subscribers and thank the support of new audiences, which ensured the success of our just-ended concert season.”
The MPO will be touring East Malaysia with performances in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu on June 27 and June 30 respectively.
The last time the MPO performed in Sabah and Sarawak was in 2011.
