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"PAGANINI'S GUT"--CCOHK

Review

...The Violin concert “Paganini’s Gut” was performed by Italian Hong Kong
resident violinist, Andrea Zanchetta on 19th June at the Hong Kong Academy
for Performing Arts Concert Hall. This concert was also presented jointly
with City Chamber Orchestra. It was sponsored by OM LOG (Asia) Ltd.

By now, those of you who did not attend the concert, may be wondering
what is the meaning of Paganini’s Gut. Well, it refers to the violin strings used
by Mr. Zanchetta for the concert. In 2001 in Genoa, Italy an envelope
containing old gut strings and bearing the handwritten note "Antiche corde
del Violino di Nicolò Paganini" was discovered inside Paganini’s violin case.
Expert Italian gut string maker, Mimmo Peruffo, produced identical copies
of this original set of strings which Paganini used on his violin. It is these strings
which Andrea Zanchetta used for the concert to bring us closer to the
dramaticallydifferent sound made by the type of strings which Paganini
himself used.

>Before the concert Andrea Zanchetta gave a talk on Paganini and the gut
strings. He was relaxed, informative and very interesting to listen to. We learnt
about the fascinating life of Paganini, the unlucky, sickly but brilliant violinist
and composer. His ill-health stemmed from the pressure his father placed on
him to practise his music. If his father was not satisfied with his son’s practice,
he would send Paganini to bed without food as punishment. Napoleon’s
sister Elisa (known as Marianna) fell in love with him but Paganini’s later fame
caused him to attract envy and vindictiveness from others. It was even
suggested that he played so sweetly because his violin strings were made
from theguts of his dead lover!

During the concert Andrea Zanchetta played the works of Tartini and Albioni
in addition to Paganini. We were also treated to Domenico Zipoli’s Elevazione,
a duet played by Oboist and City Chamber Orchestra Artistic Director, Leanne
Nicholls with the Orchestra’s principal cellist Artem Konstantinov, accompanied
by Robert Langston on organ.

The sounds of Zanchetta’s gut strings were sublime and at the end of the concert
the audience clearly wanted more, BUT: “Paganini non ripete!”(Paganini does
not repeat)and so we had to be content with what we had already heard!
After the concert Mr. Zanchetta’s following of devoted young students inundated
him with flowers, gifts and details of their music exam results!--------------(Italian
Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Macao, full article)