Cinco minutos

I know you’ve been wondering which Symphony Orchestras are the best in the world. I can help you with that. This is my own order of preference: Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Paris Conservatoire, San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra. I cannot go into why I chose these but I can tell you I gave the list some thought – about two minutes’ worth. When you’re an expert at something, you don’t need to re-think your biases too much, no? That, by the way, is the best concert hall in the world, too. Take my word.

Cyril Reuben

This morning, I was writing a mini biography of a violinist for my other blog. In doing my research, I discovered there was no information about him other than birthday and date of death. I proceeded anyway and wrote a couple of lines about his career. His name was Cyril Reuben and he played in the first violin section of the London Symphony for many years. He died in 1996 at age 69. He was, of course, not famous like Heifetz and all the other concert violinists. He just played in an orchestra. It takes a special combination of gifts to be able to take center stage - that's for sure. That applies to all endeavors - science, education, medicine, law, government, industry, the arts, etc. Yet, without the soldiers - the anonymous foot soldiers - the generals could not do their job. Is it fair that only the generals - those that take center stage and become idols - are remembered and the foot soldiers remain anonymous forever? Yes it is. You see, Cyril Reuben, in doing his job, was afforded as much opportunity to be fulfilled and happy and to experience as much good and as much triumph and as much grief and sadness - everything that life throws at you - as any general, as any concert artist, as any conductor, as any president of any country or chairman of the board of any company. I'm sure Maestro Reuben enjoyed himself immensely playing among the rank and file. Everyone has a place in society - if my place is at the back of the line, I'll have as much fun there (being as mischievous as I am) as if I were at the head of the line. There is no reason not to - as long as I have enough money to buy my coffee and my sweet bread.

Violinhunter

Violinhunter has just created a new blog and it's quite a nice feeling. I will talk about Amati and Stradivari and Guarneri and Guadagnini and Maggini and Vuillaume violins and Cozio di Salabue and Luigi Tarisio and a few other things. Not religion and not politics. That's all for now.