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justinkagan1
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Posts: 413
(7/30/01 9:14:21
am)
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For
Nick...
Just curious to hear thoughts from those of you who have played
Strad cellos in their lives...how it might rectify one's being. I
met Evan Drachman yesterday at Guy Rabut's shop in NYC, where it was
being fitted with a new tailpiece...a somewhat surreal encounter,
surely, since Evan is Piatigorsky's grandson, and the facial
resemblance is incredible (not to mention stature...Evan also has
the genes, apparently, being a good 6'4", and the left hand evokes
film memories as well)...for those who have seen the campy
Piatigorsky video with the mini-recital (and ther quizzical
interviewer/gossip columnist Stella Something)...yeah, this was the
cello I was looking at, the one ushered quickly into the case with
the one-clasp flick-and-run. A 1725 Strad in impeccable condition.
Twist my arm...playing it was an out-of-body experience. It's the
response, stupid...the note zing, like all the cello repertoire is
embedded inside waiting to be repeated. Could've played it happily
for hours. The lower register consumed my body. Interestingly he had
it fitted with a prototype of a new aluminum bent endpin a friend is
concocting, being unhappy with the commercially available
ones....I'll keep the board posted on this development. I personally
find the Stahlhammer family of endpins not to my taste, comfort, but
for some reason on this cello it mattered not a fig.
Not bad for
a piece of wood.
Edited by: justinkagan1
at: 7/31/01 9:06:41 am
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Nicholas
Anderson
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Posts: 95
(7/30/01 12:35:55
pm)
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"Chacun a son
rooty-toot-toot"...
Great that you enjoyed that one so much. However, there are
counterexamples. Recently Zuill Bailey and I went over to Machold's
to play on the Strad they're now selling for Aurora
Nátola-Ginastera. It *really* didn't seem like anything to write
home about. (And when you think about it, it's really a *tremendous*
amount of money.) They had a Gagliano there that I thought was much
nicer. Of course, there are Strads and there are Strads. And not
everyone would prefer the Strad type of sound if they had a choice.
It's like the way various violinists prefer the del Gesu quality
over Strad violins. To me, the point is that instruments aren't
necessarily better just because of pedigree - very much like
people.
Well, you did say you were curious to hear
thoughts... ("Why is he telling me all this?!?") BTW, I'm sure Evan
D. isn't any taller than thy august self ... or any finer cellist!
Anyway, Justin, all my best, and I'll see you
subseQUENTly!
-Nick
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Paul
Tseng ICS Staff 
Administrator
Posts: 1460
(7/30/01 1:28:52 pm)
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Re: Playing
Strads...why the fuss?!
I heard the Hausman Strad earlier this year and it was a beautiful
instrument. I wish I could have played on it though.
Paul Tseng
My Website
Free Cello
Music!
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Christopher
Chan
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Posts: 154
(7/30/01 2:30:58
pm)
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please tell me
more about this bent endpin
I have been very satisfied with making my own bent endpins from
metal rods (i've experimented with boh aluminum and steel) bought
from home depot, but i am always interested in learning about new
cello wares.
I've gotten a chance to play many fine cellos,
but i have never had the pleasure of playing a strad cello. i have
played a strad violin if you consider holding it and plucking the
strings playing....
Hopefully one day soon i will get my
hands on one.
Is the cello still there? I'll come visit you
tomorrow if it is.. 
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David
Sanders
Registered User
Posts: 640
(7/30/01 4:01:37 pm)
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I've played the
Hausmann Strad.
I had a chance to play the Hausmann Strad a few years ago. It was a
remarkable experience, and for the only time in my life, if I had
had 4 million dollars, I would have bought it!
I've played a
couple of other Strads as well. They have all been remarkable,
though not quite as remarkable as the Hausmann.
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Paul
Tseng ICS Staff
Administrator
Posts: 1461
(7/30/01 4:16:17 pm)
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Re: I've played
the Hausmann Strad.
What was it like?
Paul Tseng
My Website
Free Cello
Music!
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David
Sanders
Registered User
Posts: 641
(7/30/01 10:18:51 pm)
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Re: I've played
the Hausmann Strad.
I'm not sure I can really describe it. It could take anything I
could give it, and it was incredibly easy to play. It had power,
beauty, depth, color, everything you could possibly imagine or hope
for.
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Christopher
Chan
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Posts: 155
(7/31/01 12:17:28
am)
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Re: I've played
the Hausmann Strad.
That is pretty cool since it isn't even a Golden Period Strad.
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justinkagan1
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Posts: 414
(7/31/01 9:05:43
am)
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Re: "Chacun a
son rooty-toot-toot"...
Nick, you're not SO vertically challenged that you'd mistake me for
a Stucka-sized giant. Evan sitting down appeared relatively normal,
but he's definitely in the Michael Jordan height range, about 6'5"
and lanky. when I sat down with the cello at his endpin height it
positively swam.
I wonder if that Gagliano you and ZB played was
the same one Machold had when i first met Zuill there and played his
axe...it had been expertly enlarged way back when, with an extra
3/4" or so at the ribs all around. It was a fantastic sounding
instrument, awesomely deep C string, one of the nicest I've ever
played. Av was with me, thought for a "doctored" axe they were
asking too much at the time. But what a cello...I'm surprised it's
still around. Did you get the skinny on the bis which Zuill played
at his Machold recital not so long ago, the Variations Amerique of
Vieuxtemps? Talk about a chop killer....I was thinking about that
piece when playing the Strad...filled with staccatti passages, which
Zuill tossed off a la Grisha...
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justinkagan1
Registered
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Posts: 415
(7/31/01 9:13:13
am)
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To
Christopher...
CC: I seem to have misplaced your email address....write me. But as
far as I could tell Evan finished up with Guy after futzing with the
new tailpiece. Re: the endpin, it was a solid piece of crafted
aluminum with a variable height section, pretty normal-looking, and
a prototype he had made by a friend after trying out all the other
commercially-available ones. He lives in NYC, should be
look-uppable....I saw him by happenstance yesterday eating at a
restaurant on 75 St.
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G
M Stucka
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Posts: 650
(7/31/01 9:55:03
am)
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Re: I've played
the Hausmann Strad. (TO DAVID)
Where/When did you play the Hausmann? I had a chance to play it
when Morel had it and didn't enjoy it as much as I'd anticipated
because the set-up seemed so unbelievably tight. Did B+F have it for
a while?
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Nicholas
Anderson
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Posts: 96
(8/1/01 1:19:56
am)
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Re: "Chacun a
son rooty-toot-toot"...
Hi Justin-
Being sort of medium-short, it can be difficult
to tell one skyscraper from another! (And not having had the
privilege of meeting Gary, I wasn't aware of his altitude.)
I
don't know how long that Gagliano has been there, so I don't know if
it's the same one or not, but what you describe sounds just like it.
It was ever so much more to my taste than that particular
Strad.
As for the Vieuxtemps piece, that's a funny
coincidence. I happen to know it very well in the original violin
version, because a close friend of mine, the outstanding violinist
James Greening-Valenzuela, has performed it for years and recorded
it. Zuill made that cello arrangement himself, and changed a few
things to make it work better on the cello. He played it for me
there in the shop, and it does come off great. It's sort of in the
same technical category as the Piatigorsky Paganini Variations, on
my CD - a piece Zuill also plays; (staccati passages actually *by*
Grisha). Zuill prefers the Vieuxtemps because it's shorter, and he
feels it's less demanding on the audience's attention, for that kind
of a piece. I prefer the Piatigorsky because I think it has more
musical substance for something of that genre; but again,
chacun...
Speaking of endpins - the guy who did all that work
on my cello recently, David Sayers, now has me using a carbon-fiber
endpin, because he considers it to have a significant effect on the
*sound* of the cello. He's against all metal endpins, because he's
convinced that their weight and density dampen the sound. He had me
compare them on my cello, back to back, and I have to admit that I
could hear a difference - more presence of sound with the
carbon-fiber - much as I can hardly imagine it. He even got me to
hear the difference in sound between two types of carbon-fiber ones,
hollow or solid. He has me using one of those new boxwood
tailpieces, (for the same reason of lightness), and even the housing
of the endpin is boxwood. To him, every microscopic molecule makes a
difference, and he keeps saying that the sound is affected by
changing something the thickness of a piece of paper. I've never
known such a nit-picker in my life. But I think he's brilliant, and
very skillful. And he's mercifully and refreshingly *not* of the
Morel and general NY school of tight set-up. Av [for those who don't
know, our mutual friend Avron Coleman, cellist around town and
formerly of NY Phil] has been raving about the improvement in the
response of my cello.
Anyway, enough badinage and persiflage,
for the moment. Hope to talk with you soon. We're off to see the
Lizard -
-Nick
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David
Sanders
Registered User
Posts: 642
(8/1/01 1:24:26 am)
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Re: I've played
the Hausmann Strad. (TO DAVID)
I played it at Morel's, and it was about 3 or 4 years ago, I would
guess, maybe 2 years?
I just loved it. Maybe it had been
readjusted or something.
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 Steve
Drake
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Posts: 401
(8/2/01 10:31:48
pm)
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Re: For
Nick...
I played Zara's strad a few times during my summer at Aspen with
her. Didn't think much of it, except it did seem to play itself. It
sounded huge from the audience, however, that special strad trick.
I've had brief encounters with Yo Yo's Strad and Montagnana.
Mainly just ocassions to hold it backstage while he honobbed, but
I've been able to play brief passages. My instant opinions were: the
strad was nice, not exceptional, but I only got a few notes on it.
The Montagnana was HUGE! The biggest sounding, most responsive
instrument I've ever played.
Evan was at Aspen that same
summer I studied with Zara. I don't remember him as being
particularly large, but he was definitely a cello force to be
reckoned with. He didn't have the strad then. He was only 16 at the
time, I think.
My MP3's
My Cello
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Nicholas
Anderson
Registered
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Posts: 99
(8/3/01 1:35:22
am)
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Re: For
Nick...
Christine Walevska once made an intriguing comment to me about
Strads. She doesn't own one, but has played on *many* of them over
the years, partly due to the fact that her father was an LA violin
dealer. She said she's found that there's a certain specific "trick"
or "knack" to playing on them and making them sound right or
bringing out their sound, which she discovered how to do after
enough experience with them, and could even demonstrate under the
right circumstances. It piqued my interest, mainly because I think
of her as having a special command of gorgeous cello tone. I wasn't
able to get her to elaborate; but if this bit of esoterica is ever
vouchsafed to me, I'll certainly share what I can!
Then there
was the commentary Casals made about Strads, in that wonderful book
"Conversations with Casals." I'll quote a small bit of it:
Q:
"How is it that you never played on a Stradivarius?"
A: "I
have never been tempted by a Stradivarius. These superb instruments
have too much personality in my opinion; if I play on one, I cannot
forget that I have a Stradivarius in my hands, and it disturbs me
considerably. I said to a friend one day, talking of these
instruments, 'Their Majesties mind very much how one plays on
them!'"
Also, I've always much preferred hearing Yo-Yo on his
Montagnana than his Strad. I do think Zara's Strad sounds marvelous,
at least from out in the audience. I'm not anti-Strad or anything;
just mentioning all this in the spirit of "da REST of da
sto-ry!"
BTW, on another subject ... just out of *morbid*
curiosity, I'd like to know how one achieves the exalted status of
"Community Supporter," as it says under Steve's name in the left
column of the post. I've kicked in a few bucks a couple of times,
but apparently it hasn't catapulted me into that category! Maybe
there's some threshhold; unless Steve gives at the level of Bill
Gates contributing to the AIDS fund! Or maybe it isn't even
financial. But I think I've seen that under a couple of other
people's names too, though I can't remember whose at the moment. In
any case, one certainly wants to support this enterprise in whatever
way is workable - as I imagine many of us feel. So, just wondering!
Can the "powers that be" shed any light on this? Best to
all,
-Nick
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Steve
Drake
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Posts: 403
(8/3/01 11:46:41
am)
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About the
"community supporter" thingie...
I paid 7$ to ezboard to get rid of the pop ups before the ics
arranged to do this for everyone. That's all. If that puts me in
Bill Gates range, great!
My MP3's
My Cello
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MsCheryl
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Posts: 257
(8/3/01 4:17:09
pm)
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is that
something like an "athletic supporter"?
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