Review: Joshua Bell's 'Elements' at the Hollywood Bowl

August 19, 2024, 3:42 PM · It's been a year since superstar violinist Joshua Bell premiered his five-composer violin concerto "The Elements," so when I saw that he would be performing it live with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, I definitely had to be there.

The concerto features five movements by five living composers: "Earth" by Kevin Puts, "Water" by Edgar Meyer, "Fire" by Jake Heggie, "Air" by Jennifer Higdon, and "Space" Jessie Montgomery.

The piece was first performed in summer 2023 at the Colorado Music Festival, then it officially premiered in the fall with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Germany followed by the New York Philharmonic. Since then Bell has been performing it with orchestras all around the world, either in its entirety or as single movements. (Read our interview with Joshua about the making of this piece here.)

On Thursday, the outdoor Hollywood Bowl felt like the perfect place to witness such a piece - with every "element" making its own local appearance in its own local way: the earthy mountaintops framing the stage, the breezy night air - with its ever-present faint scent of California forest fire, the waxing moon rising in the sky behind us. And, um, the river of cars below on the 101 freeway, the blare of fire sirens, the helicopters traversing the air above us...

It was an urban blending of the elements, to be sure.

The concert, directed by the LA Phil's new assistant conductor Rodolfo Barráez, got off to a shaky start with a surprise hiccup in the Star-Spangled Banner, and that sense of unease continued through Copland's "El Salón Mexico." Nonetheless there were high moments with some beautiful trumpet solos as well as rhythmically compelling solo clarinet playing.

Bell's entrance and presence on stage brought an immediate sense of "all is well," as everyone settled into the endeavor of presenting the evening's featured work, "The Elements," starting with "Earth" by Kevin Puts. This began with lush strings - soothing music with a beautiful violin melody on top that wouldn't be out of place in a yoga studio.

Hollywood Bowl's large screens alternated between showing Bell's playing and themed video - "earthy" images such as a small plant emerging from the earth, a forest floor, a forest itself. Just as I began to think the entire movement was going to be slow-moving "Zen," some troubled harmonies entered, ushering in a fast section that kept Joshua scrambling (quite ably, of course!) all over the fingerboard.

Images flashed with more rapidity - glyphs on a rock wall, a volcano erupting, lava flowing. Then - scorched earth - music slowing, harmonics, burnt forest. The violin sounded like a lament - paired with an image of a lone bird. Then - as happens with the earth - the cycle renewed. A crescendo in the music brought the return of green images, moss growing. A short recitative toward the end of the movement highlighted Bell's remarkable presence and ability to hold a moment. The image of Bell on the screen melded together with the image of a sunset - as if Bell himself were glowing.

This was a great movement - and honestly, it could have stood on its own. As the next movements unfolded, it was clear that this was true of each movement - each stood complete by itself. They flowed surprisingly well together, considering they were all written by separate composers, though at 40+ minutes, the full "Elements" - five movements with a reprise and finale - did feel longer than most violin concertos.

Edgar Meyer's "Water" - conceived as the musical depiction of a gentle rain followed by the journey of a water particle down a South American waterfall, featured repeated rapid figurations of five notes in the solo violin part, creating that sense of rapidly flowing water. Screen images started with a misty pond, moving on to a circular school of fish, thunderclouds and lightning.

An expansive quality pervaded Jennifer Higdon's "Air," which featured uplifting melodies and large intervals. This was paired with images of windmills, plants rustling in the breeze. A bird soared onscreen as the music ascended. Bell's playing lent a great sense of comfort to this movement.

Jake Hegge's "Fire" started with a swirling (6/8?) dance that jumped up to the occasional harmonic, sort of devilish (after all, hell is fiery!). It went through episodes that changed to a duple meter. A slower section with harmonics was set against the image of a deer against the smoke of a forest fire, with some col legno in the strings - using the wood of the bow. The music accelerated - sounding almost like klezmer music - then returned to the dance from the beginning.

My favorite part of Jessie Montgomery's "Space" movement was in the middle, a slow section that brought to mind the isolation of space. Bell's slow artificial harmonics, played solo like a cadenza, sounded eerie and alone, like random sounds in space. Bell's sense of timing and oneness with this theme helped make this moment very convincing. When the orchestra returned, it seemed like a cushion of "wonder music," with the solo violin doing rapid figurations overhead, yet harmonies remaining static as the music grew more majestic. This movement segued into the reprise of "Earth," with screen images reviewing what had come before and the music growing more comforting as it returned.

Overall, the piece received a warm reception, with Bell returning to the stage for several ovations.

When it came to the onscreen images for "The Elements" - the concepts and themes aligned well with the music, but the images themselves felt a little generic, not at the same artistic level as the musical compositions or Joshua's performance. I'd love to see an image sequence that felt more stylistically intentional.

I'd been so focused on Joshua Bell's new piece that I had not realized that the second half of this program featured Leonard Bernstein's "Symphonic Dances" - the composer's distillation of all the best musical moments in "West Side Story." That very day I had just posted a long article about my personal experience playing that same piece in a concert last spring with the LA Phil. After writing some 7,000 words on the subject, I simply don't have a lot more to say. But I will report this: I made friends with the woman sitting next to me and convinced her that we should yell "Mambo!" together at the appropriate moment - and we did!

Here's to summer at the Bowl!

You might also like:

* * *

Enjoying Violinist.com? Click here to sign up for our free, bi-weekly email newsletter. And if you've already signed up, please invite your friends! Thank you.

Replies

This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Review: Joshua Bell's 'Elements' at the Hollywood Bowl

Replies

Subscribe

Laurie's Books