At Home With Friends is a reminder that music should be enjoyed in the company of those you care about. Here, Joshua Bell has brought together an eclectic mix of artists and musical styles to create an album that is truly special. Wine, like music, is meant to be enjoyed with friends, and Lucas and Lewellen Vineyards produces an eclectic mix of varietals that make any wine and music get together more special.
Start an evening of friendship and fellowship with the 2005 Cabernet Franc, a lush wine that pairs perfectly with the rich opening tracks of At Home With Friends. The album opens with an arrangement of I Loves You Porgy, and when Chris Botti’s trumpet solo glides in, raspberry jam and black cherry flavors glide over the palate. As Sting romances us with the 16th-Century love song Come Again, the Cabernet Franc offers dark flavors of blackberry and a sumptuous mouthfeel. The mournful melody of Oblivion and Josh Groban’s tenor in Cinema Paradiso bring out intense dark fruit flavors in this Cabernet Franc, while brighter fruit and woodsy flavors come out over Kristin Chenoweth’s sweet performance of My Funny Valentine.
Petit Verdot is a grape that is often used in Bordeaux blends as a complement to Cabs and Merlot. With the 2006 Petit Verdot, Lucas and Lewellen is giving this grape its moment in the spotlight, with astounding results. Revel in the deep inky-red color and violet aromas of this solo beauty over the ensemble magic of Maybe So, as violin, double-bass, mandolin and guitar mesh to create a wild and pulsating musical journey. Experience a true rarity, as Bell pairs up with Rachmaninoff (through astounding Zenph technology) for Greig’s Sonata No. 3. Over this expressive performance, the Petit Verdot (a rarity in itself, really) displays flavors of plum and currant that lead to a satisfying, lengthy finish starring black cherry and a touch of smoke. A unique arrangement of the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby is another excellent pairing with the Petit Verdot, Bell’s soaring violin playing smoke to Frankie Moreno’s dark stone fruit vocals.
The 2005 Petite Sirah wraps up our evening of fun with friends. Taste this wine with the sweet melody of Il Postino and look for flavors of blackberry and licorice. Regina Spektor’s throaty vocals on The Left Hand Song are balanced by the silky mouthfeel of the Petite Sirah, while the lilting Chovendo Na Roseira highlights flavors of toasted oak and ripe berries with violin and mandolin in perfect counterpart. But perhaps no instrument complements the Petite Sirah like the sitar, which makes a glorious appearance on Variant Moods. The piece, composed by the legendary Ravi Shankar and performed by Bell and Shankar’s daughter, Anoushka Shankar, is exotic, rhythmically flexible and constantly changing mood, bringing out the contrasting flavors of oak and fruit, smoke and earth beautifully in this 2005 Petite Sirah.
Whether you experience this pairing at home alone, or at home with friends, there is always something interesting, something soothing, something fascinating, something surprising with each sip, with each new track.
To me, home is a very special place. Coming home from being on tour means that I have time to meet with friends, relax – and, of course, play music.
Since music is at the very heart of who I am, it’s also very naturally the focus of my home. That’s why, when I decided to redesign my place in New York City a few years ago, one of my priorities was to include a performance space where I could spend time with friends and make music. This performance place is now the centerpiece of my home. It’s completely different from the formal halls I play in when I’m on the road. The interior has a warm mix of woods – to me, they call to mind the maple and ebony of my most prized possession, my Stradivarius. Working with an architect, I had the ceiling slope higher toward the back, to produce the very best acoustics. I’ve entertained up to 200 people there and the sound is crystal clear and intimate. My guests, many of them sitting on pillows on the floor, seem to love the ‘up-close-and-personal’ feeling of being so near to where the music is being made.
A lot of the inspiration for this concept comes from my childhood. When I was a kid, growing up in a household of amateur musicians, my parents hosted musicales around the holidays, where everyone would get up and play – duets, trios, quartets, and every type of music. My fond memories of those evenings inspired me to recreate the experience in my new home. Hosting musicales might sound like an 18th- or 19th-century salon idea, but there’s a twist. The “anything goes” spirit of these house concerts means that I might play a Brahms Violin Sonata followed by some bluegrass. I’ll invite a singer, a rock musician, or a jazz musician to join me on the same evening. But I might also invite a comedian to get up and do his spiel, or an actor might do a monologue. There’s even a role for some of my chef friends, who always manage to create great culinary surprises for the occasion! In this way, these house concerts are a freewheeling mix of music and friendship, in a spontaneous and informal setting.
Not long ago I began to think that it would be spectacular to share these evenings with a wider audience – they were just too exciting to keep to ourselves. That’s when I talked to Sony about creating At Home with Friends. Once the concept took hold, I began calling up friends like Chris Botti and Edgar Meyer (both of whom I met when we went to Indiana University together), Josh Groban (who invited me to be on his album – I’m really happy to return the favor here), Kristin Chenoweth (whom I’ve been close with for years), and Frankie Moreno (I met Frankie only recently, but we worked together to write the Eleanor Rigby arrangement). I immediately thought about including Sting (whom I met at a concert of Robert Schumann music, where he was narrating and I was playing), and Anoushka Shankar, the wonderful, young sitar player (her father, the legendary Ravi Shankar, even wrote us a piece which we premiere on this record).
At Home with Friends is the culmination of all the interesting musical “friendships” I have made over the years and I am delighted to bring all these wonderful musical personalities together on one album.
– Joshua Bell, 2009
A Lucas & Lewellen Starter Cellar
Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards
Wine Maker’s Notes:
Not sure where to start with our long list of wines? Start a new wine cellar or add these outstanding age-worthy wines to your existing collection. Three favorites from the Lucas & Lewellen line-up, each of these estate wines drink beautifully now and will benefit from 5-7 years of additional…
