Butterfly Lovers Joshua Bell

• Chen Gang (b. 1935), Zhanhao He (b. 1933): Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto:
• 1 Gang, He: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto: I. Adagio Cantabile 05:09
• 2 Gang, He: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto: II. Allegro 02:44
• 3 Gang, He: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto: III. Adagio Assai Doloroso 02:57
• 4 Gang, He: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto: IV. Pesante - Più mosso - Duramente 04:42
• 5 Gang, He: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto: V. Lagrimoso 04:27
• 6 Gang, He: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto: VI. Presto Resoluto 03:02
• 7 Gang, He: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto: VII. Adagio Cantabile 03:59
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): Introduction et rondo capriccioso in A minor, Op. 28:
• 8 Saint-Saëns: Introduction et rondo capriccioso in A minor, Op. 28 09:56
• Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912): "Méditation" from Thaïs:
• 9 Massenet: "Méditation" from Thaïs 05:15
• Pablo de Sarasate (1844 - 1908): Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20:
• 10 de Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 09:09
• Total Runtime 51:20

Info for Butterfly Lovers

Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell’s forthcoming recording Butterfly Lovers features one of the most renowned works in the Chinese classical violin repertoire, the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto. Recorded with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) and conducted by Tsung Yeh, the work is a distinctive adaptation for an ensemble of traditional Chinese instruments.

The recording also features Bell as soloist in three popular Western Romantic works for violin and orchestra, all specifically arranged to be performed with the SCO’s virtuosic ensemble of Chinese instruments.

“I’m thrilled to have worked with the incredible Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Maestro Tsung Yeh on this recording, which includes the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto as its centerpiece,” Joshua Bell says. “It was a joy to collaborate with the SCO musicians, who brought this work to life through the expressive sounds of the traditional Chinese instruments.”

Inspired by a hauntingly romantic Chinese legend, the concerto was written in 1959 by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao. The original version, richly scored for a full Western symphonic orchestra, has achieved global popularity. For this recording, Bell performed an adaptation of the work by Yang Hui Chang and Ku Lap-Man for an orchestra of traditional instruments.

“The music beautifully describes the classic Butterfly Lovers story, featuring themes of romance, star-crossed lovers, and friendship,” Bell adds.

The concerto, in seven concise but evocative movements, recounts the ancient Chinese legend of the youthful “butterfly lovers,” a story as passionate and star-crossed as that of Romeo and Juliet. The new arrangement for Chinese orchestra lends the concerto an authentic clarity of sound and a timeless atmosphere, in which Bell’s violin becomes a poignant voice telling and inhabiting a story of tragic but transcendent love.

“Joshua has brought his own unique interpretation to this world-famous masterwork,” conductor Tsung Yeh says, calling their collaboration “a beautiful and emotional musical journey.”

“My favorite parts of this recording are the more soulful, soft passages,” he adds. “I can actually hear the sighing and sobbing from his violin.”

Bell says, “We have also included three classics of the violin repertoire from 19th-century Europe – works by Sarasate, Saint-Saens and Massenet – making it a truly multicultural project.”

Those three classics – Sarasate’s “Ziguenerweisen,” Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A Minor; and Massenet’s “Méditation” from Thaïs – are also heard in distinctive arrangements for Chinese orchestra.

Bell and Yeh first performed together at the very beginning of Bell’s career in 1989, following Yeh’s appointment as music director of Indiana’s South Bend Symphony Orchestra. Bell was the soloist for one of Yeh’s very first concerts.

“As an American, I feel so privileged to have been given this opportunity,” Bell says of the new recording, “and I find it fitting that we have recorded this in Singapore, a historically important setting that bridges East and West.”

Joshua Bell, violine
Singapore Chinese Orchestra
Tsung Yeh, conductor

Joshua Bell
With a career spanning almost four decades, GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated artists of his era. Having performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world, Bell continues to maintain engagements as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor and Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Bell’s highlights in the 2022-23 season include leading the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on tour in South America to Sao Paulo, Bogotá, and Montevideo as well in Europe, in Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. Joshua appears in guest performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Sofia Philharmonic, Franz Schubert Filharmonia as well as a European tour with pianist Peter Dugan. This season in the U.S., Bell will perform alongside the New York Philharmonic, as well as the San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston, Baltimore, and New Jersey Symphony Orchestras.

In 2011, Bell was named Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, succeeding Sir Neville Marriner, who formed the orchestra in 1959. Bell’s history with the Academy dates back to 1986, when he first recorded the Bruch and Mendelsohn concertos with Mariner and the orchestra. Bell has since directed the orchestra on several albums, including Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Voice of the Violin, For the Love of Brahms, and most recently, Bruch: Scottish Fantasy, which was nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY® Award.

In summer 2020, PBS presented Joshua Bell: At Home With Music, a nationwide broadcast produced entirely in lockdown, directed by Tony and Emmy award winner Dori Berinstein. The program included core classical repertoire as well as new arrangements of beloved works, including a West Side Story medley. The special features guest artists Larisa Martínez, Jeremy Denk, Peter Dugan, and Kamal Khan. In August 2020, Sony Classical released the companion album to the special, “Joshua Bell: At Home With Music”.

Bell has been active in commissioning new works from living composers and has premiered works by John Corigliano, Edgar Meyer, Behzad Ranjbaran and the Nicholas Maw Violin Concerto, for which his recording received a GRAMMY® award.

Bell has also collaborated with artists across a multitude of genres. He has partnered with peers including Renée Fleming, Chick Corea, Regina Spektor, Wynton Marsalis, Chris Botti, Anoushka Shankar, Frankie Moreno, Josh Groban, and Sting, among others. In 2019, Bell joined his longtime friends and musical partners, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk, for a ten-city American trio tour; the trio recorded Mendelssohn’s piano trios at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, slated for release next season. Following Bell’s second collaboration with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Maestro Tsung Yeh in 2018, an upcoming album release features Bell as soloist alongside traditional Chinese instruments performing Western repertoire and the Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto, one of the most renowned violin works in Chinese cultural heritage.

In 1998, Bell partnered with composer John Corigliano and recorded the soundtrack for the film The Red Violin, which elevated Bell to a household name and garnered Corigliano an Academy Award. Since then, Bell has appeared on several other film soundtracks, including Ladies in Lavender (2004) and Defiance (2008). In 2018-19, Bell commemorated the 20th anniversary of The Red Violin (1998), bringing the film with live orchestra to various festivals and the New York Philharmonic.

Bell has also appeared three times as a guest star on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and made numerous appearances on the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle. Bell is featured on a total of six Live From Lincoln Center specials, as well as a PBS Great Performances episode, “Joshua Bell: West Side Story in Central Park.”

In August 2021, Bell announced his new partnership with Trala, the tech-powered violin learning app, which Bell will work with to develop a unique music education curriculum. Bell maintains active involvement with Education Through Music and Turnaround Arts, which provide instruments and arts education to children who may not otherwise experience classical music firsthand. In 2014, Bell mentored and performed alongside National YoungArts Foundation string musicians in an HBO Family Documentary special, “Joshua Bell: A YoungArts Masterclass.” Bell received the 2019 Glashütte Original MusicFestivalAward, presented in conjunction with the Dresden Music Festival, for his commitment to arts education.

Bell’s interest in technology led him to partner with Embertone, the leading virtual instrument sampling company, on the Joshua Bell Virtual Violin, a sampler created for producers, engineers, artists, and composers. Bell also collaborated with Sony on the Joshua Bell VR experience. Featuring Bell performing with pianist Sam Haywood in full 360-degrees VR, the software is available on Sony PlayStation 4 VR.

As an exclusive Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 albums, garnering GRAMMY®, Mercury®, Gramophone and OPUS KLASSIK awards. Bell’s 2019 Amazon Originals new Chopin Nocturne arrangement was the first classical release of its kind on Amazon Music. Bell’s 2016 release, For the Love of Brahms, features recordings with the Academy, Steven Isserlis, and Jeremy Denk. Bell’s 2013 album with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, featuring Bell directing Beethoven’s Fourth and Seventh symphonies, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

In 2007, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post story, centered on Bell performing incognito in a Washington, D.C. metro station, sparked an ongoing conversation regarding artistic reception and context. The feature inspired Kathy Stinson’s 2013 children’s book, The Man With The Violin, and a newly-commissioned animated film, with music by Academy Award-winning composer Anne Dudley. Stinson’s subsequent 2017 book, Dance With The Violin, illustrated by Dušan Petričić, offers a glimpse into one of Bell’s competition experiences at age 12. Bell debuted The Man With The Violin festival at the Kennedy Center in 2017, and, in March 2019, presented a Man With The Violin family concert with the Seattle Symphony.

Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell began the violin at age four, and at age twelve, began studies with his mentor, Josef Gingold. At age 14, Bell debuted with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 17 with the St. Louis Symphony. At age 18, Bell signed with his first label, London Decca, and received the Avery Fisher Career Grant. In the years following, Bell has been named 2010 “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America, a 2007 “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, nominated for six GRAMMY® awards, and received the 2007 Avery Fisher Prize. He has also received the 2003 Indiana Governor’s Arts Award and a Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 1991 from the Jacobs School of Music. In 2000, he was named an “Indiana Living Legend.”

Bell has performed for three American presidents and the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. He participated in former president Barack Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities’ first cultural mission to Cuba, joining Cuban and American musicians on a 2017 Live from Lincoln Center Emmy nominated PBS special, Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba, celebrating renewed cultural diplomacy between Cuba and the United States.

Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin.

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