I went out for some milk

And this happened

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9W9IDavxJ8[/youtube]

When I was in college, I lived in the worst apartment ever. Total shit hole. Like an old house that should have been condemned, but it was broken up into 6 apartments, and so they just condemned 2 of the apartments. It was dirt cheap, and as shitty as could be. But the guy upstairs from me, a Russian guy…he’d moved here to play violin as part of the symphony in the city here. So even though the apartment was total shit, I would wake up occasionally to the sound of this world class violinist practicing upstairs. The walls were thin so I could hear the bow on the strings quite vividly. It was a strange feeling to be sitting in such a dump but with the backdrop of this guy’s music. Crazy stuff.

I think this guy is proof that playing fast under difficult circumstances will produce something of more beauty than a slow and studied interpretation in perfect conditions.

For one thing, he’s more commited to the piece than any concert violinist.

Though with that level of skill he probably was a concert violinist once.

Only one other performance ever impressed me nore, and it impressed me deeply. An old man plahing inside the entrance to a metro station. This one wasn’t even asking for money. He didn’t seek danger anymore, he just liked the acoustics and didn’t care who was there. Nothing deeper ever reached my ears. He actually understood the music, with all the gathered pain and putrid sweetness from his life.

I think it was the only time I ever felt true reverence.