I Dream in Colors

04/08/07 Pearls before breakfast

What would happen if one of the world’s greatest violin players gave an incognito performance on a subway station in Washington D.C., during the morning rush hour? Well, find out for yourself on this Washington Post article, and enjoy a great read.

…each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he’s really bad? What if he’s really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn’t you? What’s the moral mathematics of the moment?

On that Friday in January, those private questions would be answered in an unusually public way. No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made….

Technorati Tags: Joshua Bell, washingtonpost.com

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