Eugen Modri

How's Mullova made it in the middle of this ???? You are out of order. "We people" were not talking to you. I am not interested in discussing anything with you. You are grossly incompetent. Many do not like Mullova ( I do not care ) and a lot more do not like Netrebko. And many do not like Kopacinskaia or care for her exhibitionism. But you are welcome to like them all - not my business. I suggest you go posture somewhere else before I start swearing at you and calling you names.

Very good post. As to where is the musicianship, there is none. The entire "movement" is meant to give some employment to the dull and the talentless.

Of course you implied "improper motivations". It's fine if you think you are smart - you may well be. It's a mistake to suppose the others are stupid just for not converging to your idea of how to do things. Many times people just don't care for our ideas. The "extraneous movements" which did not work for you do work wonderfully for others and are a physiological necessity for them. There is no single way to skin a cat in this violin playing business.

It's the hair, in my opinion. Depending where you play your instrument and how old you are you will be more or less aware of how much the hair matters. I could be wrong and anyway, I never received a good explanation, but somewhere around 1965-70 I noticed a change in the quality of the hair. Hair became coarser and noisier. Less hair, cleaner and quicker sound. More hair, thicker sound. Mr. Darnton calls it fatter but I think thicker describes it better.

Thank you, it was quite interesting. I listened to maybe 3/4 of them and to be honest they do not "speak" to me. But then, tastes differ. The recording is hard to decode. The playing does not help much either. A couple of those violin sound(ed) promising for a few notes but less so as the music carried on. I'll find some time and listen to the violas, too. Interesting, I was expecting a storm of opinions from the "usual culprits" but it looks like violin tone is not that important anymore. :)

Wonderful post, absolutely wonderful !

Feeling is mutual.

1. Not my intention Mr. Swan. My intention was to be condescending, not patronizing. I seem to have missed it by miles. 2. I am not a Russian school product. I trained in Romania and was one of the first generations to go through the whole system ( 19 years ) from kindergarten to Conservatory. Later, Romanian school borrowed from Russian school but during my time and including Conservatory it was decidedly French based and for political reasons Russian influences were not received well. It is here that you and I have something in common : Mr. Stross believes I play ineffectively, too. Anyway, I am sure in time we will find some common understandings. I wish you the best in your business.

1. Maybe you can but not attentively. You made a complete mess from Mr. Strelnikov's post where you replaced what he actually wrote with whatever beliefs you had. Sure, his English might not be the finest but it isn't completely incomprehensible either. To paraphrase you, I suggest you apologize. 2. Not what I asked 3. You read Shaw. I could not care. I'm not interested in cute sentence turns. I do not think he had any musical education. Not being able to read an orchestral score meant his exposure to music was very limited. 4. Passes what test ? The test of being the greatest music critic of all time ? You think Liszt who could transcribe Wagner's scores at the piano a prima vista was a moron ? 5. Not at all. What kind of logic is that ? I simply invited you ( in a nice way ) to bring supporting arguments to your statement. Nothing yet... 6. Of course I can. And anyway, what's that got to do with what I asked ? 7. Well, you said is Shaw. And after all , you can not say "he is the greatest" without being able to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....

An EXCELLENT idea ! Count me in. Now, which post I changed ?

What is it you find so astonishing ? Mr Swan and Mr Strelnikov seem to agree on everything.... And it was not an exchange on generalities but on the specific question if a violin's suitability has to be established by the actual user and on actual repertoire... Are you often so distracted ? By the way where did you learn GBS was "the greatest music critic of all time" ?

I did not change any of my posts. Which post are you talking about ?

Anything wrong with the quality of the violin ?

There is no need to be sorry. I know how you play because I heard you.And so did others. World (much ) smaller than you think. And I hope you have a better clientele than the ones who play "to some extent" like you. I really appreciate your knowledge and the way you impart it in other fields. You are very intelligent and informed. However, your violin playing is by classical standard, simply non-existent. It may inform your business activities but your violin tone opinions hold zero water with me and from what I recently read with others, too. You have no concept of tone production on violin, in other words what you have to do to produce good tone, practically.

Your playing will tell me if I should place any weight on your opinions. I already know my playing.