Violinist Elina Vähälä made international headlines back in April following a performance of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Finland’s Sinfonia Lahti. The headlines, however, weren’t because of what she was playing and how beautifully she was playing it. Actually, I take that back. Because what she was playing on was a 1780 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin. Which matters to the story. How she was playing it was beautifully, fiercely, as one would expect for the concerto’s third movement. During a brief moment of repose, however, where the orchestra, led by maestro Matthew Halls, took over the melody, Vähälä eased her grip on the violin ever so slightly.
Before I go further, it’s helpful for you to know that Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (also known as G.B. Guadagnini) was one of the finest violin makers of all time (along with Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù and Amati). A 1780 G.B. Guadagnini represents the pinnacle of his craftsmanship, resulting in a visually stunning violin with a warm, deep timbre, tonal complexity and powerful projection, with a price tag that ranges from 1.5 to 3 million dollars.
Back to Elina Vähälä and the third movement of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1. As I’m unable to embed it, let’s head over to Classical FM HERE to let the ensuing eighteen seconds speak for themselves.
[Spoiler alert, and/or if you didn’t feel like clicking the link to see what happened: the violin went flying through the air when conductor Halls inadvertently thwacked the violin neck with his hand/baton. It did not land softly.]
Tough to watch, huh? Ask me why, then, did I watch it five times in a row, wincing each time? Answer: I dunno. Human nature.
The good news: miraculously, the 18th-century violin was not damaged to the point that Vähälä couldn’t play it. Quick to regain her composure, Vähälä tuned the violin and in the spirit of “the show must go on,” soloist, conductor and orchestra recommenced the concerto’s third movement, from its beginning, and finished the concerto successfully.
Wow. Just wow. Kudos to you all.
Readers will be happy to learn that the Guadagnini suffered only a slight separation of its top from the ribs, which luthier Jarkko Niemi was able to quickly and successfully repair, with no loss of value to the violin.
In the world of live performances and concertizing on antique masterpieces, stories like this happen. It’s why this blog’s title is “more adventures with priceless violins” I blogged about a high drama involving Frank Almond and the Lipinski Stradivarius. Also a stolen Strad recovered. The film The Red Violin, while fictionalized, is a great film that I elaborated on. And hey, there’s my own “Violin Nightmares” from my early blogging years.
In fact, here is a Top 10 lists of blogs on the violin I’ve written over the lifetime of this blog, thirteen years now. It’s surreal to consider that this blog has outlived my infatuation with learning to play the violin, but, yeah, some of us were meant to play the instrument, and some of us were meant to listen, listen, listen and then write, write, write about it. It’s no coincidence that most of my novels have a violinist, plus the violin repertoire, tucked into the story. While I don’t play the violin anymore, my love for the instrument and its beautiful sound is eternal.
Enjoy the blogs. I sure had fun rereading them all. (PS: the Guadagnini I’m holding in the image at the top of the blog? Check out the blog “The world of million-dollar violins” for more information about it, and to find out what it’s worth. I’ll just say this: it was a THRILL to hold it.)
- The world of million-dollar violins
- High drama: Frank Almond and the Lipinski Strad
- Stolen Stradivarius recovered
- Revisiting “The Red Violin”
- Violin nightmares
- Buying a violin: 10 things to consider
- First violin encounter
- Play the violin in 5 easy steps!
- Classical Girl’s Top 10 [and then some] violin concertos
- Finnish perfection: the Sibelius Violin Concerto