Their repertoire was not exactly radical, brimful as it was of the romantic

 Their repertoire was not exactly radical, brimful as it was of the romantic 

European gems in which Bell has always excelled: Beethoven’s exuberant Violin Sonata No 1, composed in the final years of the 18th century, via glorious sonatas from Robert Schumann and César Franck, to Ernest Bloch’s moving “Nigun” from his Baal Shem Suite, composed in 1924. It was an unashamed celebration of a golden era of violin playing.

Bell even inadvertently implied this when introducing the second of their two encores. Bloch, as he reminded us, studied violin with Eugène Ysaÿe —the “biggest rock star of the violin, when violinists were rock stars”. Ysaÿe — who was taught by Henryk Wieniawski, composer of the encore — in turn taught Josef Gingold, who went on to teach a young . . . Joshua Bell. He hurriedly clarified, “Not to be putting myself in any way in that line!”

Presenting this very familiar music — even Clara Schumann’s Romance No 1, their first encore, is now programmed with some regularity — with such breathtaking excellence, Bell and Dugan were able to cast these pieces into new relief. No wonder the standing ovation was instantaneous, the atmosphere as warm inside the hall as the breeze rolling off the Potomac outside.