“At Home With Friends”

I was immediately taken by Joshua Bell's new album, "At Home With Friends". It's a beautiful record. One2One gave me the opportunity to review this for my blog and I was thrilled! I hadn't heard much about Joshua Bell before, but once I saw the lineup of talents that would be performing with him, I knew this was going to be something special.

Check out this cast of performers!

Album Tracklisting (Originally performed by):
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

Isn't it so impressive?! Josh Groban, Sting, Chris Botti, Regina Spektor, Kristen Chenowith, Marvin Hamlisch and the list goes on!

Joshua Bell is a Grammy Award-winning violinist and this album is a series of duets (both vocal and instrumental) with some of today's most talented players and singers. I was blown away by the beauty of this album and its diversity of styles. Just fabulous.

Believe me when I say, this is not an album exclusively for classical music fans. I do not classify myself as one who listens to much classical music, or violin music for that matter. I really loved this album and think it will appeal to a wide variety of tastes.

I especially love My Funny Valentine, I Loves You Porgy and Il Postino. But the whole album is gorgeous. I don't think there's a bad track on the whole album.

This album really feels like a night "At Home With Friends"...really talented, musical friends! Wouldn't it be lovely to have a life full of musical friends you could just call over for a night of music? Joshua Bell, in a way, gives us this opportunity. He really does take us to a place that feels like we're a part of the magic. It's wonderful.



Some other links to give you more info:

Joshua’s website: http://www.joshuabell.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Joshua-Bell/62686889648?Ref=ts