Joshua Bell Jeremy Denk: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

September 30, 2016 by TOM HUIZENGA You gotta love Brahms, Joshua Bell says, a little short of breath. He s wiping sweat from his brow after the big rock n roll conclusion to the composer s D minor Violin Sonata. Bell and the astute pianist Jeremy Denk play it with all the turbulence and tenderness Brahms demands, and it s an invigorating way to open this Tiny Desk concert. Bell and Denk have been chambermusic partners for 10 years, and they re a bit wound up on Brahms these days. They ve released a new album, For the Love of Brahms, and they re performing the music, along with that of Brahms friend Robert Schumann, in concerts. Contrasting with the fiery Brahms, Schumann s Romance, Op. 94, No. 2 unfolds like a song without words. Bell makes his 1713 Stradivarius sing, capturing the bittersweet tone of the music. When the theme comes around for the second time, he lightens bow pressure for a more intimate, almost whispered disclosure. Another of Brahms close friends figures prominently in Bell and