On Thursday, Oct. 30, I attended a concert featuring Joshua Bell, a famous professional violinist, playing Violin Concerto No. 1 by Max Bruch. This piece is played widely among classical music students. (In fact, my own sister has been playing this piece for a while, so it has been cutting through my ears lately). No one wants to hear an overplayed piece in a concert featuring a world-renowned professional violinist, right?
Here, I was wrong.
It turns out, a lot of people wanted to hear him; the tickets were almost sold out by the time I tried to get myself one.
To be completely honest, even though I am a classical cellist myself, I tend to fall asleep in concerts, no matter how well known the guest artist is. My cello friends always laugh at me for it, but in the darkness in the audience with the sound of string instruments droning on slowly and continuously, I can’t help but fall asleep.
Joshua Bell was different, though. From the beginning to the end, I was alert and interacting with the music. Afterwards, I gave him the title: God of Violin.
Don’t push away classical music. It’s not just boring slow stuff.