Bell handles double duty in orchestra masterfully

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Joshua Bell doesn’t wear a hat on stage. Not literally, anyway.

But the superstar violinist wore two Saturday night at Reynolds Hall – as soloist and music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

Leading an all-Beethoven program with alacrity and grace, Bell seemed completely at home – which is hardly a surprise, considering the 44-year-old violinist first performed with the London-based chamber orchestra more than 25 years ago.

In his relatively new role as music director, Bell spent most of the concert as first among equals, leading the orchestra from the concertmaster’s chair – or, more precisely, from a piano bench. (Which is firmly in the Academy tradition; after all, when Sir Neville Marriner founded the London-based ensemble in 1958, he did exactly the same thing.)

Launching the program with Beethoven’s 1807 “Coriolan” Overture, the Academy musicians delivered in full force, showcasing palpable dynamic contrast and a rich, resonant tone. Bell maintained a brisk pace, giving even the most lyrical passages an underlying drive.

Bell then took center stage for Beethoven’s one-and-only violin concerto, composed in 1806. (It was the second time in as many weeks Reynolds Hall audiences had the chance to hear it; Danish virtuoso Nikolaj Znaider performed it with the Cleveland Orchestra on April 21.)

And watching Bell’s double-duty routine proved almost as compelling as listening to his performance.

Whirling to lead the orchestra between solo passages, Bell conducted with a rhythmic grace – sometimes with bow in hand, almost bowing to his colleagues – that seemed lilting in its own right. Not as lilting as his sweet, silvery solo passages, of course, or his own delicate yet dashing cadenzas. Throughout, Bell and the ensemble maintained a melodic interplay that accented their musical partnership.

As impressive as the concert’s first half turned out to be, however, Bell and his Academy colleagues saved the best for last with an inspired performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B flat (written in 1806, the same year as the concerto).

Sandwiched between Beethoven’s mighty Third and Fifth symphonies, the Fourth has always seemed unjustly unsung, and the Academy’s stirring rendition offered ample evidence of the reasons why.

After a stately start, the ensemble took flight – and, whether delivering both sprightly melodies and more soulful passages, Bell and the ensemble found an ideal balance between elegant assurance and impassioned intensity.

The only sour note at Saturday’s concert came not from the stage but from the audience.

Enthusiastic applause between movements may be gauche, but at least it’s genuine – and, ultimately, harmless, however annoying to purists.

But audience members should remember that Reynolds Hall’s estimable acoustics work both ways, amplifying the disruptive sound of every dropped drink container and every scrape of every box-seat chair being moved at an inopportune time. (The appalled look on Bell’s face as someone moved his or her chair, triggering a wave of nervous laughter from the audience – just as he was poised to signal the start of Beethoven’s Fourth – spoke volumes.)

And here’s a discouraging word to the boor sitting a few rows behind me, who blithely conducted a hardly whispered conversation with his companion midconcert: If you want to talk, stay home and allow the rest of us to enjoy the music without your rude accompaniment.

Perhaps that’s why, despite a thunderous, cheering ovation, Bell and Co. declined to play an encore Saturday, as they’ve done at several other stops on their current U.S. tour.

Not that what they played wasn’t enough, but given the quality of the musicianship on display, there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing.

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.