SLSO Show #2

I was a bit surprised by my second symphony.  I had traded some tickets that were on a day we were unable to attend for this show instead, but my calendar apparently decided that it wanted to not-so-randomly delete events, so I needed to call and confirm this on the day of the show.  Unfortunately, the box office only opens two hours before the show, so I was then in a bit of a rush to get there.

About the show -- it was Joshua Bell, perhaps today's most famous young violinist, performing Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, op. 26.  As with anyone who is an expert at their craft, it is fascinating and enthralling to watch him play.  I also very much enjoyed the story of his Stradivari which was contained in the program.

He plays the 1713 "Gibson ex Huberman" Strad with a Francois Tourte 18th-century bow.  His violin changed hands over the years.  The "Gibson" in the name is George Alfred Gibson, a Brit.  It eventually came to be owned by Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman.  Huberman was Jewish, and visited Palestine in 1929.  There, he identified the need to begin a Palestinian orchestra.  Huberman auditioned musicians all over central Europe, securing for many of them exit visas from totalitarian countries, which were difficult to get in those days.  While he and his musicians - not quite an orchestra yet - were on tour playing at Carnegie Hall, his violin was stolen.  It landed in the hands of Julian Altman (accounts differ on whether he stole it or whether he bought it off the thief), who concealed its identity for the remainder of his music career by covering its beautiful wood in shoe polish.  On his deathbed, he confessed its identity to his wife, who sold it to Lloyd's of London, starting the process of its return to glory.

Bell was bookended by Elgar's In the South and Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 2 in G major.  It was a good show overall.  Unfortunately, though, I made the stupid mistake of setting a trial on the following day (the Monday after Thanksgiving -- what was I thinking?!?), so I was a bit distracted during the performance and we didn't get to enjoy our usual leisurely dinner after the show.  It was back to work for me.