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Joshua Bell Busks

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Chris Vallance | 17:30 UK time, Monday, 9 April 2007

As well as a worthy read in its . The Post asked celebrated violinist Joshua Bell to try his hand at busking, filmed the result and then interviewed Bell, passers-by and an assortment of experts about the result. The video illuminates the text, letting us hear Bell's unscheduled performance of Bach's "Chaconne" and see the reaction of busy shoppers in the DC mall where he busked. The interviews with the few who stopped are wonderful, including this from a post office worker:

"There was a musician playing at the top of the escalator at L'Enfant Plaza."
Haven't you seen musicians there before?
"Not like this one."
What do you mean?
"This was a superb violinist. I've never heard anyone of that caliber. He was technically proficient, with very good phrasing. He had a good fiddle, too, with a big, lush sound. I walked a distance away, to hear him. I didn't want to be intrusive on his space."

The "good fiddle" btw was a Stradivarius . Gene Weingartens article is about an subject some regard as old-fashioned (classical music), it doesn't scream "interactivity" in a voice that would humble Pavarotti, but this is one of the best pieces of multimedia reporting I've seen. The web content is central to the article, but it doesn't overpower The Post's key strength: its writing.

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