Piece Comment

Review of Linda's Gift


This is a great little piece, being at once entertaining and intelligent. It recounts in a light, literary manner the narrator’s search for a violin that will reproduce a specific sound—a sound that has been hauntingly playing in her head. She compares searching for a violin to looking for a true love. Impressively, this comparison really rings true. She is looking for something that will complete her and fulfill a certain nostalgic ideal born from childhood. Most musicians feel that their instruments are living things. It’s a kind of mystery that I’ve always suspected can only be really grasped if you are a musician; but his piece helped me to see how each instrument can be unique and alive, possessing its own personality and history. For Catherine Girardeau each violin is, in its way, The Red Violin.