Prelude: Feeling a bit musical today. For non-music lovers, time to switch to another blog. Sorry!

Bell's Repertoire

Bell & his Stradivarius

I've been listening to Joshua Bell for a couple of years now. Some classical critics have biased views about classical cross-overs but I'll take cross-overs anytime over pure classical ;). The monotony of classical can be a dread at times. It reminds me of my weekly piano lessons back in the days.

Joshua Bell plays with such passion, it makes you cry. Although he is a trained classical violinist, I prefer to hear his soundtrack collection like "Mi Mancherai", "The Red Violin", "O Mio Babbino Caro", "Fantasy for Violin & Orchestra" and the theme song from Ladies in Lavender; which I can never tire of. On a depressing day, I might make an exception for his classical pieces .

My greatest envy is Bell's 300 year old Antonio Stradivari violin; which he bought for a few million dollars after selling his other Strad ("Tom Taylor" was his/her name). Although I don't play the violin, how I wish I could own one. Wishful thinking, wishful thinking! I suppose I could always ogle at the few collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. *sigh*



This is a clip from You Tube of Bell doing an experiment - incognito at the Washington DC Metro earlier this year. Apparently, only one lady knew who he was. He also collected about $30 dollars. Hah!