Hear a $15 Million Stradivarius | Now Hear This | Great Performances on PBS

In near by Bergamo, Igor found me a Stradivari violin to play. It's owned by a Swiss bank, and is now for sale for fifteen million dollars. The mayor wanted to bring it to me himself to play at the Church of San Pietro. [in Italian] Signore, buongiorno. It looks very nice. It looks well preserved. And very good condition, too. Let's try if it works. Good. Feels good? Yeah. That's... There is nothing like a Strad. You hear the quality of this. And it's incredible. They don't make them like this anymore do they? No, no way. Genius is genius. He was the best in 1714. He was the best in 1737 when he died. And he's still the best. And he will stay the best. I think I'd like to play a couple of notes on this. Yeah, yeah. Playing this Vivaldi melody on a violin like this, in a place like this, and it hit me again. Vivaldi was not just a composer, he was a deeply religious man, elevating his instrument to touch the divine.

Channel: Great Performances | PBS

Views: 1,775,888

Rating: 4.8850045 out of 5

Keywords: great performances, pbs, opera, dance, performing arts, public tv, classical music, ballet, metropolitan opera, musical theater, musicals, theatre

Id: QObnfS29lKo

Length: 3min 20sec (200 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 17 2019