Joshua Bell in the Subway
April 8th, 2007, 4 Comments »
Via Neatorama, I just read a lengthy, erudite, fascinating piece about an experiment in art and fame:
Three days before he appeared at the Metro station, Bell had filled the house at Boston’s stately Symphony Hall, where merely pretty good seats went for $100. Two weeks later, at the Music Center at Strathmore, in North Bethesda, he would play to a standing-room-only audience so respectful of his artistry that they stifled their coughs until the silence between movements. But on that Friday in January, Joshua Bell was just another mendicant, competing for the attention of busy people on their way to work.
‘Mendicant’? Really? The piece’s writing style is rather, well, baroque, but it’s worth the read, and there are a number of videos of Bell playing in the subway station.