Guarneri Violin in Concert

Posted by Sarah Canice Funke Mar 29, 2008

With a price tag of $3.9 million USD, the Guarneri del Gesu violin sold at auction in February is not surprisingly kept safely stowed and not brought out just for any old house party entertainment. In fact, the violin hadn't been played for over 70 years.

However, all that changed when the violin's new owner, Russian lawyer and businessman Maxim Viktorov, hosted a private concert in Moscow over Easter weekend. Viktorov arranged for violinist Pinchas Zukerman to perform on the violin, considering the virtuoso to be the one worthy enough to coax music out of the world's most expensive instrument.

Israeli-born Zukerman also plays a Guarneri violin himself. Only 150 violins made by the Guarneri family survive today. The Italian family was one of the top violin makers of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Viktorov's violin was built in 1741 and previously owned by Belgian Henri Vieuxtemps, who played for Tsar Alexander II. Viktorov hopes to restore Russia to its great cultural history and make it a country that once again attracts top artists, but the concert met with lack-luster enthusiasm. Zukerman didn't even receive a standing ovation, but the audience did muster up a round of applause for Max Bruch's Violin Concerto in G Minor.

For more information, please read the CBC article.