OK, thought I would get your attention.

The other day on the history channel, I watched a show regarding "mini ice ages". Anyways, they talked about certain events in history that may have been affected by mini ice ages that we experience every 150 to 200 years.

Part of that discussion mentioned the Stradivarius violin and how the sound quality may have been related to how the tree (the wood used to make the violin) grew during this mini ice age and how it may be responsible for the high quality sound of the violin.

But that is really not my point. During that show, they showed video of a man playing a Stradivarius and the music sounded well um beautiful!

Now I am not a big violin fan, and I rarely listen to classical, but the sound of this really caught my attention. I am hoping someone else watched the show, and knows who the violinist is and or what piece of music he was playing. I would like to get a record, tape, or cd of this music, but have no idea who or what it was. Thanks, YD

Saw the show you are talking about. Was playing with my devil dog as it was on so missed what was being played. Classical is wonderful to listen to in person. Hope you find what music was playing during the program. You might contact the program director to find that info or it maybe list on the program credits that are no doubt available.

Side note many first growth trees are now being hauled up from being sunk at the bottom of the Great Lakes after all these years. The quality of that wood can be most lovely.

Saw a recent story where a top-shelf violinist fell backwards down some stairs and smashed his million dollar violin. Wasn't a Stradivarius but one of his contemporaries. It was insured, and they are attempting a repair.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19072216&ft=1&f=1004

Either the case was very flimsy or he fell down a massive flight of stairs in which case he would've been seriously hurt too. I can't imagine anyone carrying a multi-million dollar violin (if it wasn't a Strad the only other possibilities would've been a del Gesu or a very special Guadagnini) in a poorly made case.

EDIT: Found two articles

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7242860.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7244441.stm

Pretty unforunate, but I'm glad he didn't get hurt. The Guadagnini is in the hands of one of the most famous violin dealers in the world so no worries:D I wonder if the value will be affected even if J&A Beare manage to pull off a seamless repair.