Page 370 - ASMF Marriner 100 Coverage Book

Mendelssohn's much beloved Violin Concerto in E minor showed how seasoned Bell’s
violin playing has become, even more lucid, energetic and compelling. He is a whole-body
violinist, his legs and torso flexing in an animated yet unexaggerated way. The first
movement introduces its gorgeous melody just a few bars in, something new when
Mendelssohn composed. Its passionate tone immediately created the intimacy that
characterized the whole concerto, while Bell's brisk tempo kept it free from melodrama.
Articulation remained crisp and clean, the pianissimi pierced the air yet melted midst his
mid full-volumed intensity. Bell executed his mastery with ever special sweetness.

Each orchestral section followed suit and together they played with a fluid quality,
overflowing with powerful emotions, the woodwinds superb throughout. The brass
brightened the tone further and the ample strings thickened the texture with precision. It
was as if the music expanded as it unfolded, and we were elasticized by it, ready to go
wherever it led. Bell and the orchestra in perfect tandem, Bell’s playing itself becoming the
conductor as he plied his bow, and when he pointed it intermittently towards the orchestra,
it seemed somewhat arbitrary.

Mendelssohn himself conducted the premiere of Robert Schumann’s Second Symphony in
1846, a work that was borne from rejuvenated creativity despite multiple setbacks. Bell
directed it from within the string section. This took us further from the usual concert
hierarchy into communal music-making. The opening movement moved quickly from
somber to lively Allegro, almost an Allegro vivace rather than non troppo. This was well-
accented by the timpanist. The Scherzo evinced plenty of vitality with deft woodwinds, ever
energetic and vigorous and the Adagio ached with beauty. Clearly, the ASMF is a vibrant,
living unit, each section tightly connected to its counterparts.

The oboe intoned with haunting timbre as brass and strings accelerated to the Finale with
fervor. The coda also uses motifs from the introduction, emphasizing the symphony’s
organic quality, with Schumann's vivid musical language brought to life by Bell and his
orchestra.