Mea culpa, Joshua Bell.
Please forgive us for forgetting our classical music etiquette and clapping before you had finished Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 4. But seeing you on the Centennial Hall stage Friday night with British pianist Sam Haywood performing with such passion, it was impossible not to applaud.
We knew that after that first movement, you still had two more to go, but honestly, what were we to do? Just sit there and pretend that what we witnessed was not spectacular? We had to tell you how we felt.
You spent two hours telling us how you felt, playing Beethoven's lush and varied sonata and capping the night off with Grieg's Violin Sonata No. 2,Β the same piece you played the last β and only β time you did a solo recital in Tucson. That was back in 2011, and we're not absolutely certain, but it's a safe bet we broke protocol that night as well.
And then you brought onΒ Prokofiev's fiery Violin Sonata No. 2 in D major. By then, our sense of concert manners had returned, but that doesn't mean we didn't have to fight the urge to bolt out of our seats and give you a hand-stinging ovation. The way you rocked on the ball of your left foot as you pulled that bow across the strings, then let it flutter to coax out this wonderful melody. And when the piece grew more urgent, you snuck in a quick pizzicato that pierced the hall and just kind of hung there like a soap bubble waiting to be popped.
You and Haywood have been performing together for so long that you can read each other with a quick glimpse. And man is he terrific. He knows when to ying when you yang, and it was so much fun to watch you communicate with a simple glance over your shoulder.Β
We've been blessed in Tucson; we've hosted you in various settings since you were a child prodigy in the 1980s, including several turns with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and a show with your St. Martin of the Fields ensemble. We even saw you in 2008 when you played with the TSO 24 hours before another violin great, Itzhak Perlman, played on the very Centennial Hall stage where you stood Friday night. Talk about nirvana!
Here's why we clapped out of turn at your UA Presents concert Friday night: We knew how special that moment was, not only when you pulled your bow back over the strings of your historic 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius and elicited the sweetest, warmest tone in second movement of Beethoven's sonata, or swayed almost lost in the moment during the emotional rollercoaster of the Grieg's second movement. But to see you out front, no orchestra behind you, no conductor in front of you, and hear you summon some of the most lovely music, and to know that we were the last stop on one of your rare solo tours β that's why we applauded.
And then you threw in a bonus, a trio of encores including Clara Schumann's rarely played "First Romance" and Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 1. But it was your exciting performance of Henri Wieniawski's Scherzo tarantelle that really struck a nerve. You danced all over the fingerboard and drew the bow with alternating tenderness and urgency to produce low and high notes that bounced off one another in the most organic way. It was breathtaking.
Next time you come for a solo recital, we will try to maintain our classical music etiquette. But we can't make any promises.
