Joshua Bell - Vadim Repin: Poet and Philosopher

Joshua Bell - Ảnh 1. — Joshua Bell (left) and Vadim Repin, two excellent violinists, recently played in Hanoi.

First up is Vadim Repin's performance on October 28, who was once praised by the legendary Mehunin as "the best and most perfect" and on October 31 is Joshua Bell, an artist who has been listed many times as one of the best virtuosos of all time.

Joshua Bell, who came to Vietnam for the first time, brought along a 300-year-old Stradivarius - itself a historical artifact with a sound described as "chocolate, rich, intense but not harsh" and the Sun Symphony Orchestra, conducted by conductor Olivier Ochanine, performing Violin Concerto No. 3 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns in the Fantastique music night.

In a performance on Halloween, Joshua Bell was like a wizard with his bow as his wand, whether the music was soft or sharp, slow or sharp.

It has been commented that Bell was able to produce sounds so seamlessly that it seemed as if his bow were several meters long.

Of course, one should not only listen to Joshua Bell, but also look at him: his whole body moves gracefully in rhythm with the melody, his expressions are full of tragedy, his emotions are abundant and even lavish, his demeanor is charming as if he had transformed into a character in a musical story.

His playing is particularly captivating in the second movement, a movement with European pastoral bacarolles, which is said to express the spirit of Saint-Saëns, that "an artist who does not feel completely satisfied by delicate lines, harmonious colors and perfect chord progressions has not yet understood the art of music ". The lyricism, gentleness, warmth and poetry of Joshua Bell's style go straight to the heart.

We always need artists like that, who honor the romantic, who do not shy away from romance, who do not consider romance to nullify technical virtuosity, who do not consider romance to be the enemy of sharpness.

Listening to Joshua Bell's poetic interpretations proves that it's not always necessary to play music in a quirky, experimental way; perhaps the music we remember the longest is the music that melts our souls.

Also bringing along a centuries-old violin, an ancient one made by Niccolò Amati in the mid-17th century, violinist Vadim Repin also chose a famous work by Camille Saint-Saëns for the Vietnamese audience, the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso minor, performed with the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra.

The sad, elegy-like introduction is followed by a rondo section with a "gypsy" color, bursting with adventure, where the dramatic playing is expressed, with a primitive, dark, mysterious, even psychological depth typical of Vadim Repin's classic Russian novels.

Repin performed one of Max Bruch's most familiar violin concertos, the Violin Concerto in G minor. Unlike Bell's full, polished, and splendid sound, Repin's was powerful and powerful, not surprising given his birth in the harsh lands of Siberia.

The way he plays music is as if music were a way to survive: one cannot lie down and relax by enjoying music, but must play music by concentrating all the heat from within, because music is the fire that warms the cold nights.

Repin's music is introverted, with the appearance of a Russian soul full of contradictions, born from the vastness of Russian nature. If Joshua Bell is a poet, a romantic, Repin is like a philosopher on the plains.

Two schools of music, one elegant, one edgy, one may love one a little more or the other a little more. But regardless of which one is more to one’s taste, perhaps classical music lovers in Hanoi are living in a golden age.

Hien Trang

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/joshua-bell-vadim-repin-this-si-va-triet-gia-20251102091148315.htm