From Jan Zwicky’s Lyric Philosophy:
“Dealers in fine musical instruments almost never play the instruments they appraise. Their assessments are based on externally measurable proportions, antique value, the visual appearance of the varnish, the reputation of the luthier, and so on. An understanding of the Tractatus’s arguments might be compared to a violin’s market value; an understanding of its thought, to a musician’s appreciation of the instrument’s sound.
Simone Weil [The Notebooks of Simone Weil, trans. Arthur Wills]
Infinite difference between three hours spent at a machine on piece-work, and three hours spent in front of a fresco of Giotto’s. The relationship between time and me is the stuff of which my life is woven, and it is possible to establish an infinite difference therein. A Bach fugue is a model.”
Giotto’s Legend of St Francis – Renunciation of Wordly Goods
Schumann’s glorious sonata played on Isserlis’ Stradivarius, accompanied by pianist Dénes Várjon, for no other reason but that it accompanies the Giotto so exquisitely. This is the stuff of which my life is woven.
Time's Flow Stemmed 
Lovely post Anthony. But did you know that a Stradivarius will “die” unless it is played regularly? I think that there is a museum in Switzerland that employs a musician to come in and remind the instruments what their real purpose is…
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Thanks, Anastasia. I didn’t know that, and will now need to find out what form cello death takes. Usually with cellos it takes a long while to build up that resonance.
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