Virtuoso's trip destroys priceless Stradivarius

Thomas Maurice Booth · Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:15 am

Some violin player douched himself...

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 81531.html

TMB

UDELBR · Post by **UDELBR** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:42 am

How about this guy, who put his elbow through a Picasso valued at $139,000,000?

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/1 ... paumgarten

Alex F · Post by **Alex F** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:24 pm

60,000 British pound estimated repair bill. Hmmm . . . about $140,000 US???

Lee, Joe, Matt, you are in the wrong business.

I have some Gorilla glue at home . . .

Doug@GT · Post by **Doug@GT** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:54 pm

witty writer wrote:they called him the David Beckham of the classical violin. Now he is more likely to be known as the lad with the broken Strad

Is it a bad thing that I wish I had been at that concert?

The worst I've ever seen happen was when Jon Kimura Parker busted the strings on a piano playing a Prokofiev Concerto. He just got up, ripped the pieces out, and kept going.

But seeing this kid fall on a Strad....do you applaud? gasp? laugh? all three at once?

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:47 pm

Well, it may have been a "priceless Stradivarius", but as usual, those involved were quick to rectify that little problem, and put a price on it.

Richardrichard9 · Post by **Richardrichard9** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:08 pm

How Sad

... I want a Strad!!!

Wyvern · Post by **Wyvern** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:52 pm

duckskiff wrote: Must we teach the British to speak English?

Probably yes!

The only people over here which seem to speak good English are foreigners!

djwesp · Post by **djwesp** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:27 pm

Neptune wrote: Probably yes! The only people over here which seem to speak good English are foreigners!

I figured you'd find a way to make fun of the Scottish in there, but you refrained.

eupher61 · Post by **eupher61** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:35 pm

Eugene Fodor fell into the pit at the KC Lyric Theater during a rehearsal, I don't think his fiddle was hurt but he complained of a shoulder injury, and cancelled his performance. They found someone to play something else.

Some of the orchestra players really were certain that Fodor was trying to get out of playing the Brahms. Maybe it was just playing the Brahms with the KCSO of the time.

Casey Tucker · Post by **Casey Tucker** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:50 pm

worst i've seen was when i saw ben folds perform with the Houston Symphony. in the middle of his closing piece he picked up the piano bench and threw it at the symphony's 9ft steinway grand. i clapped. :D

SplatterTone · Post by **SplatterTone** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:41 pm

The accident threatened to leave the musician without a suitable instrument to play tomorrow night

Somebody should explain to him that people will notice which violin he is playing about as much as he notices which tuba the tub(a)ist is playing.

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:40 pm

SplatterTone wrote:
The accident threatened to leave the musician without a suitable instrument to play tomorrow night
Somebody should explain to him that people will notice which violin he is playing about as much as he notices which tuba the tub(a)ist is playing.

Hey, if you use a Helleberg with York #3, it will play itself, and you can just sit with the audience!

Rick Denney · Post by **Rick Denney** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:45 pm

Casey Tucker wrote:worst i've seen was when i saw ben folds perform with the Houston Symphony. in the middle of his closing piece he picked up the piano bench and threw it at the symphony's 9ft steinway grand. i clapped.

Sheesh.

Vladimir Ashkenazy didn't like the Baldwin 12-foot concert grand that the San Antonio Symphony used. So, instead of throwing an unprofessional temper tantrum, he voiced his issue privately, and the symphony staff got on the phone. They found one of the ladies of the symphony league who owned a 12-foot Bosendorfer Imperial, and they paid to have it moved to the concert hall, tuned, and then returned and tuned after the performances. This was done in a matter of a couple of hours. Ashkenazy acknowledged the lady at the concert, who bowed to the adoring crowd. I'm sure she was ecstatic to have such a story to tell her society friends. And Ashkenazy got to play on (and we got to hear) a real piano.

I personally know at least two people in Houston with 12-foot Bosendorfers, and I'm only very slightly connected to one tiny corner of the enormous wealthy class in that in that city. So either Folds didn't voice his issue constructively or the symphony staff was remarkably uncreative.

Rick "admiring class, despite how rarely it is displayed" Denney

Todd S. Malicoate · Post by **Todd S. Malicoate** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 6:21 pm

Casey Tucker wrote:worst i've seen was when i saw ben folds perform with the Houston Symphony. in the middle of his closing piece he picked up the piano bench and threw it at the symphony's 9ft steinway grand. i clapped.

This wasn't in anger, it was part of the performance. Folds gently tossed the bench, padded-side forward, at the Steinway and didn't damage it in any way.

It wasn't the closing piece, either...it was the penultimate piece before an encore of "The Luckiest." Link here: http://blogs.chron.com/aboutlastnight/2 ... symph.html

I don't know what Casey meant with "worst i've seen," but it scarcely compares with a violinist falling on a million dollar instrument (which, by the way, was not a Stradivarius but an 18th century Guadagnini).

Richardrichard9 · Post by **Richardrichard9** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:50 pm

I gues it wasn't a strad after all?

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/openhous ... ed-up.html

OldsRecording · Post by **OldsRecording** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:48 am

Richardrichard9 wrote:I gues it wasn't a strad after all?

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/openhous ... ed-up.html

Yes, but I doubt Guadagnini bit off anyone's ear...

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:10 am

A friend from a rich family once told me, "A poor man will purchase and lovingly restore an antique. A rich man will buy an antique and trash it."