Copious Notes

Before Joshua Bell strode onto the stage of the Norton Center for the Arts Monday night, I was talking to a gentleman who lamented the state of this classical music concert thing.

Joshua Bell. Courtesy of the Norton Center for the Arts.

Major venues across the state and across the country are turning their attention away from the classics and the artists with the skill to play them. In 10 years, will there still be an audience for this stuff?

Well, Newlin Hall was full, if not sold out last night for Bell and pianist Jeremy Denk. And this would be a pretty sad world if there wasn’t an audience for the music and musicianship that was on display during Bell and Denk’s four pieces and one encore.

Joshua Bell is one of the bona fide superstars of classical music. Audiences come to see him, regardless of what he plays. That gives him and Denk the freedom to play what they want.

What they came up with was exhilarating and enlightening: A first half of moody Janáček and luscious Brahams, a second half that traced a lineage from Franck to Ysaÿe to, by implication, Bell’s teacher Josef Gingold to the hands we heard masterfully playing last night.

Leoš Janácek’s Sonata for Violin and Piano is the sort of disjointed piece that makes some traditionalist audiences scream, and has probably sent many a musician into fits of profanity. Without perfect timing and control, it can melt into musical gibberish.

Bell and Denk were sharp collaborators, constantly locking in each other to fully form this piece that mixed sublimity with shouts, like the party guest constantly seeking attention. It was such a theatrical presentation, it begged the question, were Bell and Denk perfectly suited to it, or did they perfectly suit themselves to it?

The answer came in Johannes Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, a far different piece than the Janácek, but no less passionately played, with Bell showing stunning command of his bow to not only articulate but accent phrases, particularly long passages.

The second half contained what had to be the evening’s highlight (with apologies to Denk, who was brilliant) Eugène Ysaÿe’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor, which featured Bell alone, navigating the violin master’s 1924 composition as naturally as if he was talking.

Far from being museum pieces of a dying art form, this is music of youth and passion, played by a guy who’s 41 going on 25.

Audiences don’t need to be told this is great. The virtuosity is there to see as plainly as it is in a Jimmy Page guitar solo. And while classical music may not hold the place it once did in American culture, there should always be an audience for this.

Jeremy Denk talks to the fellows at the 2007 NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera before performing Charles Ives' Concord Sonata on Bargemusic in New York. Behind him is institute co-director and NPR Music senior producer Anya Grundmann. Photo by Rich Copley.

When I heard Joshua Bell was coming to the Norton Center for the Arts for a recital Monday night, I was excited. When I heard Jeremy Denk was set to be his accompanist, that feeling doubled.

In October 2007, I got to spend a little time in Denk’s sphere as part of the NEA’s Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera at Columbia University. Among the slate of artists and arts journalists that participated, including conductor James Conlon and New Yorker critic Alex Ross, was Denk. His two appearances with us were on a blogging panel with critic Terry Teachout and performing Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata at Bargemusic, literally a recital hall on a Barge next to the Brooklyn Bridge — had to limit my time actually watching Denk perform, because he was in front of a window through which we could see the Brooklyn skyline bobbing up and down.

The performance was exhilarating and informed by Denk’s witty and reverential discussion between movements. But the thing that fascinated me was that Denk was on a blogging panel. Before heading to NYC, I decided to check out Denk’s blog, with a little skepticism. After all, we were journalists. Wouldn’t we rather hear from another fellow journalist with a journalistic blog, like Teachout, rather than some artist prattling on about himself?

That skepticism vanished when I started reading Think Denk: The Glamous Life and Thoughts of a Concert Pianist for the first time. The blog is as self-depricating as its title indicates, which I quickly discovered in the first post I read, about accidentally receiving a package addressed to Yo-Yo Ma.

Often, Think Denk is about the rigors of touring, even playing second banana to bigger-name artists like his most recent post, a live blog about an all-star concert in London which he played with Bell. He talks about how he knows he’ll have to play on a piano bench adjusted for bigger name players Radu Lupu (sports car low) or Andras Schiff (firm and high).

But even in the midst of his second banananess, he finds unexpected affirmation when Schiff tells Denk he loved his Sarah Palin blog. Denk made a little splash in October with a faux interview with the Republican vice-presidential candidate about Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata.

JD: I just simply can’t believe in the midst of this intense campaign season, you could find the time to talk with me about the “Hammerklavier” Sonata.

SP: Well, ya know, Beethoven was the dude who said thanks but no thanks to Napoleon. Plus from all the mavericky songs he wrote, maybe this one could be known as the most maverickyest.

As funny as Think Denk can be, it’s also extremely insightful, particularly as Denk routinely includes musical notation to explain ideas he’s mulling over. That thoughtfulness is evident in his recordings, and in performance. In blogging, Denk is obviously exploring form, much like a pianist explores his instrument.

My skepticism disappeared in discovering a artist with a lot to say, in many ways, and well worth reading and hearing — like, say, Monday night.

Further reading:

~ Joshua Bell: A bow wonder

~ Joshua Bell: Violin hero?

For the day-after-New Year’s Weekender, Scott the editor asked me and the other Herald-Leader critics to weigh in on what we are looking forward to in 2009. Here’s my list of local arts events.

Gil Shaham performs Valentines Day at the Singletary Center.

Violin virtuosos: Early in the year, we will receive visits from two of the hottest ­violinists on the planet: Joshua Bell in recital with pianist Jeremy Denk on Jan. 26 at the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville; and Gil Shaham performing with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, on Feb. 14 at the Singletary Center for the Arts. Either one of the guys coming to town would be a big deal. To get both violin ­virtuosos less than a month from each other is huge.

Silas House’s new play: In 2005, the Kentucky author made his debut as a playwright with The Hurting Part, a play with the familiarity of characters close to our homes, sketched with great drama and wonderful language. In April, Actors Guild of Lexington is scheduled to present House’s second stage effort, and it will be interesting to see whether a new Kentucky playwright is indeed emerging.

TBA’s first season: In April, we will learn who is going to take the baton for the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra and lead the orchestra into the future. After 37 years of George Zack on the podium and two years of a search for a music director, it will be fascinating to see how this person settles in, what he or she will program, and what sort of public face he or she will bring to the Philharmonic.

River of Time: In 1999, University of Kentucky music composition professor Joseph Baber wrote An American Requiem, a powerful choral and orchestral work that seemed a bit like putting Ken Burns’ The Civil War into a classical composition. River of Time, Baber’s opera set to be premiered by UK Opera Theatre in the fall, will mine the same period, telling the tale of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood in Kentucky and the impact of his presidency.

The economy: Do I look ahead to this with anticipation or dread? It all depends on whether the country’s financial status continues to deteriorate or starts to turn around. Either way, it will dictate what arts groups do in 2009-10, and a severe financial downturn could irrevocably alter the arts landscape in Central Kentucky and across the nation.

Here are a few other things I’m looking forward to on the national stage:

New movies from Kentucky’s A-listers: Johnny Depp and George Clooney are notably absent from the awards race this year, but 2009 sees both with fresh, intriguing projects. Depp’s highest profile film has him playing gangster John Dilinger in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, due in July. Clooney is starring in Men Who Stare at Goats, the feature film directoral debut for his Good Night, and Good Luck co-writer Grant Heslov, a film about a U.S. military unit that uses the paranormal against its enemies. Depp and Clooney have other projects coming as well.

Other movies: We’re back with that old saw that Hollywood can’t make anything but sequels these days, and there are plenty this year, including a new Transformers and Harry Potter. A few reach farther into the past, and I am intrigued to see how Star Trek (sans Shatner) and Terminator (sans the Governator) fare with new visions.

Alan Gilbert taking over the New York Philharmonic: Like here in Lexington, New York’s leading band will get a new conductor starting in the fall. Unlike the recent line of venerable old conductors that have conducted the NY Phil, Gilbert promises to bring a new profile to what should be, but often is not, one of America’s leading orchestras. BTW, the NY Phil comes to Danville with outgoing conductor Lorin Maazel March 5.

Sean Watkins and Jon Foreman are Fiction Family.

Jon Foreman’s new project: The Switchfoot frontman’s solo EP’s were some of last year’s best music. He starts 2009 in collaboration with Nickle Creek’s Sean Watkins for Fiction Family. Speaking of Christian rock, I am also looking forward to new music — finally! — from Rebecca St. James.

The Obama administration: We haven’t heard a Presidential candidate or President-elect talk about the arts nearly as much as Barack Obama. His campaign included an arts platform, and both his campaign and transition team featured arts policy advisors, so it will be very interesting to see what kind of action this translates into. We’re talking about this more this weekend at le blog and in Sunday’s Herald-Leader Arts+Life section.

Above: Joshua Bell plays Paganini. Is this video game material?

We had a chance to talk to violin virtuoso Joshua Bell Tuesday to preview his Jan. 26 recital with Jeremy Denk at the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville. We will save most of that interview for a story closer to the event. But one moment was kinda fun, so I thought I’d share, and I will admit up front, I am the goofball who asked this question — it was a teleconference with four other journalists.

In several Bell bios, I had read that as a kid — like most children of the late 1970s and ’80s — he liked video games. So, we asked if he still plays, and if he thinks there’s room in the world for “Violin Hero.” He replied:

“I have yet to try Guitar Hero. I don’t need to pretend to be a musician, so the appeal isn’t there for me,” he said with a laugh. “I think the Wii has the violin, they have a thing where you can play the violin, but I have yet to try it. I do enjoy video games, but usually it’s a distraction to get myself out of music — shooting things, to distract myself, as an escape — I haven’t incorporated the two. But if they asked me to particpate in developing Violin Hero, I think I would jump on board.”

Fun. I’m thinking of the possible menus, where maybe you select a Strad or Guarneri to play, choose between concertos by Mozart or Mendelssohn, choose an orchestra and conductor etc.