Recently I was given a new CD of violinist Joshua Bell's new CD, "At Home With Friends". The CD was just released on September 29th. Joshua is also the artist who performed the music in the movie "The Red Violin" (Samuel L. Jackson)
I actually really liked this movie, so I was pretty excited to be doing this review.
Here's a little about the CD:
From the producers of the album:
At Home With Friends represents the Grammy Award-winning violinist's life-long dream of recording an album of instrumental and vocal duets with an amazing roster of musicians and friends and includes collaborations with Regina Spektor, Josh Groban, Sting, Kristin Chenoweth, Chris Botti, and more!
The album covers all of the genres, from classical to pop, bluegrass to Broadway, jazz and ethnic World Music. There are even a couple of seasonal tracks in there, just in time to celebrate the holidays.
Album Track listing:
I Loves You Porgy featuring Chris Botti, trumpet
Come Again featuring Sting, vocals
Oblivion featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
Cinema Paradiso featuring Josh Groban, vocals
Para Tí featuring Tiempo Libre, various
My Funny Valentine featuring Kristin Chenoweth, vocals
Maybe So featuring Edgar Meyer Sam Bush and Mike Marshall, strings
Grieg: Sonata No. 3 featuring Sergei Rachmaninoff (Zenph re-performance)
Eleanor Rigby featuring Frankie Moreno, piano & vocals
O, Cease Thy Maiden Fair featuring Nathan Gunn, baritone
Il Postino featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
Left Hand Song featuring Regina Spektor, piano & vocals
Chovendo Na Roseira featuring Dave Grusin, piano
Look Away featuring Edgar Meyer, bass and Chris Thile, mandolin
Variant Moods: Duet for Sitar & Violin featuring Anoushka Shankar, sitar
I'll Take Manhattan featuring Marvin Hamlisch, piano
Left Hand featuring Regina Spektor, vocals
What I thought:
I absolutely love this album and I'm sure that seasoned as well as new fans of Joshua Bell will feel the same about it! I've actually always been more of a fan of artists that play the piano, like George Winston, but hearing Joshua play the violin, is almost like being transported to a completely different place. At home with friends is so relaxing and calming, an absolute must to music lovers cd collections. Since he covers so many genres in this album, there will be at least one and I'm sure many more songs on this album that you will just fall in love with!
Disclosure: I received this CD for free to review it, but did not get any monetary compensation. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
