The holiday season is one of my favorite times of year. A beautiful mystical quality shines through everything, tempting us to peer beyond the veil. There’s a reason why so many faiths have major celebrations at this time of year…

Music has the miraculous power to lift our spirits and transport us into higher realms of consciousness. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and of course, Tchaikovsky. I hold a special place in my heart for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D.

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Joshua Bell, Violin

The energy Joshua Bell brings to his all performances is amazing, but in this piece he lifts the music to a transcendent level.

In the following video, Joshua Bell plays with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Gala concert of the Nobel Prize 2010, with Sakari Oramo, conducting. This is the First Movement, of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D, Allegro Moderato (2:47).

To hear Joshua Bell play this piece in its entirety (36:29) with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America with Valery Gergiev conductoing at the London, Proms 2013, go here.