Joshua Bell

‘French Impressions’

(SONY CLASSICAL)

Violinist Joshua Bell, 44, has rarely recorded sonatas over his illustrious recording career, which started in 1988 with the Mendelssohn concerto at Decca. After focusing on concertos and pieces accompanied by an orchestra, he has released “French Impressions.” Recorded in November 2010 at the Musical Instrument Museum in Pheonix, Arizona, the album was released Tuesday.

With sonatas by Franck, Saint-Saens and Ravel in collaboration with U.S. pianist Jeremy Denk, this is Bell’s first recital program with Sony Classical.

“‘French Impressions’ is the culmination of my last decade of exploration and performance with pianist Jeremy Denk,” Bell said in a statement. “I hope that with this recording, we can affect the listener with the same joy and spiritual enrichment that these masterpieces have provided us over the years.”

The Bell-Denk duo has been performing regularly in more than 80 recitals since 2004. Both musicians are graduates of Indiana University.

Though recorded in a museum, this album carries the energy of a live performance. The album is produced by multiple Grammy Award-winner Steven Epstein.

The sound quality is excellent, as the lush sounds of Denk’s Steinway and Bell’s 300-year-old Stradivarius violin called the ”Gibson ex-Huberman,” are charmingly blended to make a gorgeous sound overall.

The recording is highly recommended for any serious collectors of French Romantic repertoire, particularly as both musicians have a very special relationship with Franck, who wrote his only violin sonata for Eugene Ysaye, as a wedding gift for the Belgian violin virtuoso.

Franck sonata is a piece that requires technical facility from both the violinist and the pianist. Denk’s accompaniment is impressively songful and technically brilliant particularly in the latter movements of the sonata.

The Grammy Award-winning violinist and his longtime recital partner also give moving and passionate interpretations of the Saint-Saens and Ravel sonatas, which are rarely played or recorded.

If Bell’s latest album inspires a craving for more French sonatas, one is urged to try the 2002 French album by Midori that contains sonatas by Poulenc (also rarely heard), Debussy and Saint-Saens, released to mark the 20th anniversary of the Japanese-American violinist’s international debut.

Four stars out of four

Why we recommend it: The album marks U.S. violinist Joshua Bell’s first recital program with the recording company since he joined it in 1996 after a long career with Decca.

Recommended track: “Recitativo Fantasia: ben moderato molto lento”



Koyote

‘Repeating the Same Words’

(KT MUSIC)

Long-running group Koyote have released a new EP, “Repeating the Same Words” armed with up-tempo tracks with witty lyrics.

The listeners’ attention is grabbed by the artists’ signature dance beats. True to the band’s style, the semi-electro title song captures the sad and desperate drunk calls to an old lover with catchy and sincere lines like “I can’t recall how much I drank but this talk doesn’t make sense. I keep repeating and repeating what I have said.”

Koyote is a rare band in the Korean music industry that can express the reality of breakups and the uglinesss that follows in dance songs that an audience in their mid- to late-twenties can relate to, and this offering proves their talent once more.

The third track “Goodbye”also masterfully pairs a feeling of desperation with electro beats.