Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Would beauty transcend?

A real musical experiment with the world's greatest violinist, disgused as a street player in the Washington Post. As an aside, I audibly gasped when I read who was the street playing violinist.

Hat tip Kindermusik with Miss Terri and Friends

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. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?

5 comments:

Simply Music Educators of the Twin Cities said...

Isn't this something! I have been telling this story a lot because he is coming to perform for the Children's Concert Series in St. Paul this month. The Explorchestra is performing the Carnival of the Animals with JB a special guest.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Molly, I found the link to the full audio performance there at the Metro station at L'Enfant Plaza. Got it on my blog.

Wanna free front row seat?

:grin:

Molly McGinn said...

Absolutely .... let me grab the old headphones.

Molly McGinn said...

Helen, my mom recently saw him in Raleigh, and said the show was fantastic, you're in for a treat.

Also, maybe you'd like to share this link with your families that I posted some time ago: It includes videos and interviews with Josh. I love the story about his violin.

Molly McGinn said...

Here's the actual link to Joshua Bell (otherwise it opens in this tiny window and you can't navigate well):

http://www.fineartsportaljb.com/