Janos Gereben ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>Try to ignore his tearing into the instrument with such force that a string
>is broken, along with a piece of wood (from a distance, it looked like the
>bridge came off) -- and then admire the speed with which Kennedy trust the
>wounded instrument into concertmaster Mark Volkert's left hand, grabbing
>his violin from the right hand, and missing just a couple of notes.
>(Volkert did a fabulous repair job mid-concert, and returned the instrument
>in a few minutes.  But why should it be the concertmaster who is taken out
>of action like this? Isn't he the most indispensable member of the
>section?)

Could it be that when the tradition began he was the only person with
a reliably good violin?

Deryk Barker
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