MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Brahms: Violin Concerto / Hungarian Dances Nos 1 - 10

"Joshua Bell, in one of his finest recordings to date, is daring in his expressiveness, often more expansive, using a far wider range of dynamics. Bell's first entry in the Brahms immediately establishes a different kind of performance instantly demonstrating the soloist's love of bravura display, his gift of turning a phrase individually in a way that catches the ear, always sounding spontaneous, never self-conscious. Regularly one registers moments of new magic, not least when, in the most delicate half-tones, pianissimos seem to convey an inner communion, after which the impact of bravura fortissimos is all the more dramatic. He rounds the movement off with his own big cadenza and a magically hushed link into the coda, rapt and intense. With Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra providing both weighty and sympathetic support throughout, the performance remains one of the finest on disc." Gramophone