Pearls Before Breakfast (would you recognize one of the worlds greatest musicians?)

[Twistid 5,000+ posts]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html?referrer=digg

No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made.

"At a music hall, I'll get upset if someone coughs or if someone's cellphone goes off. But here, my expectations quickly diminished. I started to appreciate any acknowledgment, even a slight glance up. I was oddly grateful when someone threw in a dollar instead of change." This is from a man whose talents can command $1,000 a minute.

Like the instrument in "The Red Violin," this one has a past filled with mystery and malice. Twice, it was stolen from its illustrious prior owner, the Polish virtuoso Bronislaw Huberman. The first time, in 1919, it disappeared from Huberman's hotel room in Vienna but was quickly returned. The second time, nearly 20 years later, it was pinched from his dressing room in Carnegie Hall. He never got it back. It was not until 1985 that the thief -- a minor New York violinist -- made a deathbed confession to his wife, and produced the instrument.

Bell bought it a few years ago. He had to sell his own Strad and borrow much of the rest. The price tag was reported to be about $3.5 million.

Click to read more...

 

[tapout 5,000+ posts]

 

[2kchevy06civic 5,000+ posts]

to long of a thing to read but I watched the vids.

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

Fantastic Article. Almost done with it

 

[bdawson72 5,000+ posts]

good read

 

[dyabolical 10+ year member]

Awesome.

 

[Twistid 5,000+ posts]

if they told me as a kid i could make up to $1000 a minute by playing the violin or other classical instruments ....

any idea what songs were played?

dour Violin Concerto

"Chaconne" from Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita No. 2 in D Minor

Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria"