evident beauty

[rone]

I've seen a few people link to the gene_weingarten story about having Joshua Bell play incognito for 44 minutes in a DC Metro station (use bugmenot if you don't want to register).  I'd also like to point you to the subsequent Weingarten chat, and the complete audio of Bell's performance (requires Flash).

Weingarten's also the guy who wrote the story about the Great Zucchini which i mentioned some time ago.  His normal stuff seems to be jokey, Dave Barry-style columns, but he does seem to write some great stuff when he's serious.  It's fascinating to see the variety of reactions he publishes in his chat; i confess getting a little misty-eyed when i read the story, and again when i listened to Bell's work, and then again when someone mentioned the Vedran Smailović story.

Comments

[kjc007.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you for that.

Bell may be a virtuoso

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

but he sure can sleepwalk through a lot of music when his paycheck isn't on the line. The page turner for his accompanist at the $100+ benefit concert I went to wouldn't even venture a comment on the snorefest beyond joking, "Maybe next time you can come hear me play" (this from someone deep in the second violin section of our local Philharmonic). Unless he was considerably more engaging in the Metro station, I can see how people would pay no more attention to him than to a sequencer. (http://cdbaby.com/cd/cyberchambermusic3)

[iayork.livejournal.com]

I've seen this story referenced in three places so far, and it's really interesting what a range of reactions to the story there are. Lots of people really like the article, lots of people just hate it. Both sides have been articulate and intelligent about their reasons for liking or hating it, but their interpretations tend to be wildly different.

For the record, I liked it.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I found this article completely enthralling, and the followup chat fascinating. In fact, I'm going to have to put it aside so I can get some work done, and finish later. Many thanks.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

What he said. Thank you.