Must Read.........Bell on Huberman Strad

[Roger Hill]

http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/stage/joshua-bell-heres-the-story-behind-my-very-famous-once-stolen-violin/2310865

[MarkBouquet]

Thanks for posting this, Roger. Great story!

[David Burgess]

Great story!

Sadly, contemporary makers can't compete with that, if the market is highly story-oriented. Perhaps they can say, "I just finished this instrument, try it, maybe you'll like it". if they're brutally honest. Or if they are more creative, they can come up with something about going through the forest, tapping on trees, listening to the tree spirits, or using wood from the ceiling  beams of the Parthenon, or wood salvaged from one of the phone booths in which Clark Kent transformed into Superman.

[Trenchworker]

David, just wait 300 years.  One of yours might have a great story, too.

[thirteenthsteph]

I suggest getting cryogenically frozen to bear witness to that in 300 years.

[David Burgess]

27 minutes ago, thirteenthsteph said:

I suggest getting cryogenically frozen to bear witness to that in 300 years.

Violin makers tend more to be "do it yourself" folks. Was thinking about burying myself in the permafrost of the  frozen tundra. Toronto is only a short drive from here.

[Don Noon]

8 minutes ago, David Burgess said:

Violin makers tend more to be "do it yourself" folks. Was thinking about burying myself in the permafrost of the  frozen tundra.

At this rate, you might last a few years before you thaw out.  Better bet would be central Antarctica.

[Rue]

You might want to rethink that.

Hungry polar bears and whatnot...

[Pate Bliss]

Huberman sounded awful.  My first teacher was his pupil once removed, and we inherited some of that.

The story is a two-edged sword.  It will always be the Huberman, not the Bell.  Huberman-Bell at best.  A new fiddle on the other hand, you can call it whatever you want.  Plus he can never be its first owner.  First owner -- how dim and mysterious is that in the world of Stradivaris...  Now you're rolling.

I once read a great story on the Julian Altman character.  I tried to find it for you...  I guess he was as devious as they get.

 

[thirteenthsteph]

If you donate to me a David Burgess violin I'll be happy to try and make it known as the 'Thirteenth' 2017 Burgess. Something to look forward to after the permafrost thaws. No? Okay.

[Carl Stross]

1 minute ago, Bill Merkel said:

Huberman sounded awful. 

 

Well, not really...   He did it to himself. 

[Rue]

...in the article I misread "Franck Sonata" as "Frank Sinatra"...

I was very intrigued until I realized my mistake...

 

[Carl Stross]

1 hour ago, David Burgess said:

Great story!

Sadly, contemporary makers can't compete with that, if the market is highly story-oriented. Perhaps they can say, "I just finished this instrument, try it, maybe you'll like it". if they're brutally honest. Or if they are more creative, they can come up with something about going through the forest, tapping on trees, listening to the tree spirits, or using wood from the ceiling  beams of the Parthenon, or wood salvaged from one of the phone booths in which Clark Kent transformed into Superman.

That's true , it's a GREAT story. But Josh Bell didn't buy the violin because of the story. He bought it because it suddenly opened for him endless possibilities, the instrument stopped being an obstacle in expressing his deeper emotions, the most subtle nuances of tone and instead became an almost equal participant in the creative act. And not that he did not try a cart load of violins before.

[Ron MacDonald]

23 minutes ago, Bill Merkel said:

Huberman sounded awful.  My first teacher was his pupil once removed, and we inherited some of that.

The story is a two-edged sword.  It will always be the Huberman, not the Bell.  Huberman-Bell at best.  A new fiddle on the other hand, you can call it whatever you want.  Plus he can never be its first owner.  First owner -- how dim and mysterious is that in the world of Stradivaris...  Now you're rolling.

I once read a great story on the Julian Altman character.  I tried to find it for you...  I guess he was as devious as they get.

 

I've several recordings of Huberman--very fine playing!

[jezzupe]

Ok, so we all agree this is propaganda, on many levels, good....

edit; brought to you by the Poytner Institute, crafters of refined modern "journalism" ....ie specialist's in propaganda, dis information and fake news

[Carl Stross]

7 minutes ago, jezzupe said:

Ok, so we all agree this is propaganda, on many levels, good....

Who's "we all" ? 

[jezzupe]

13 minutes ago, carl stross said:

Who's "we all" ? 

Well, mostly us Jewish people who don;t want to get killed by Zionist International bankers {again} in their elaborate plot to portray us as unified victims who coincidentally all happen to own a central bank.

[Roger Hill]

Here is the rest of the story about my posting:  In my first career I was a physicist and worked exclusively on defense problems.  On one of my frequent trips to Washington, D.C. (perhaps '69-'70) my flight arrived early enough to go out to dinner.  The restaurant I chose was in mid-rise hotel building  near downtown and was supposed to be good.  I got there at maybe 9:30pm  and  was the only customer in the place.  They had an old violinist playing any request so I heard more than enough of my requests.  Try coming up with enough requests for a solo violin when you haven't yet learned much about classical music (I was perhaps 26-28 at the time).  Plus, even to my untrained ear the violinist wasn't particularly good and he certainly wasn't very enthusiastic about what he was doing.  When the story of the Huberman came out (perhaps 30 years later) I learned from the story that the violinist was almost certainly Altman, who was definitely not Joshua Bell. A disguised Bell could, of course, open for a rolling stones concert and be enthusiastically received by the most tin-eared groupie in the hall.  I did tip the violinist all I could reasonably afford, but did so mostly out of pity.  He really wasn't much of a showman or musician.

[Don Noon]

1 hour ago, carl stross said:

That's true , it's a GREAT story. But Josh Bell didn't buy the violin because of the story. He bought it because it suddenly opened for him endless possibilities, the instrument stopped being an obstacle in expressing his deeper emotions, the most subtle nuances of tone and instead became an almost equal participant in the creative act. And not that he did not try a cart load of violins before.

I don't think we can know for sure all of the reasoning behind his purchase, although for sure it worked for him.  What we don't know is if he came across some other violins that worked as well, but didn't have the name or story.

[GeorgeH]

How apropos for these times. Perhaps a humanitarian like Huberman could save some lives by starting a Syrian refugee orchestra in the United States...

[Carl Stross]

14 minutes ago, GeorgeH said:

How apropos for these times. Perhaps a humanitarian like Huberman could save some lives by starting a Syrian refugee orchestra in the United States...

I see a couple of problems with that. But I don't want to appear negative...

[Carl Stross]

1 hour ago, Don Noon said:

1. I don't think we can know for sure all of the reasoning behind his purchase, although for sure it worked for him.  

2. What we don't know is if he came across some other violins that worked as well, but didn't have the name or story.

1. Very true. We don't know all the reasoning and he might've forgotten some of it.

2. That's an easy one - send him an email and ask. Nobody seems to want to do that. Not that would be of any relevance, bloke might've been just unlucky and not come across that special one with no name and no story. Menuhin was once asked if he found a modern violin as good as his workhorse and said he found some really excellent ones, quite promising.

[David Holbrook]

You would find as many polar bears in the antarctic as you would Stradivari's in your grandmothers attic.

 

 I have 2 violins underway built off the Huberman poster. I do love the story, and the violin. 

 

 

 

[Rue]

We covered both poles in the conversation.

Is it preferable to be eaten by a flock of hungry penguins? 

[Addie]

1 hour ago, carl stross said:

Menuhin was once asked if he found a modern violin as good as his workhorse and said he found some really excellent ones, quite promising.

Yes, there are more "Ex-Menuhin" violins than any other name.