Abstraction

Music, as everyone knows, is a leading driver of tech because instruments intended to generate music require intense research, testing and viable production methodologies to enable musicians to buy reliable hardware at reasonable cost. In doing casual research on instrument design, (particularly violins, cellos & basses) one comes away with profound appreciation as to what goes into making something that, in the hands of a master craftsman, stands the test of time. Because the cello "has been described as the closest sounding instrument to the human voice."one would expect its sound to be familiar and "easy" but, when heard live, is anything but, especially when played by a virtuoso in front of a live audience.

While visiting friends at Elora, Canada, my wife and I heard a concert given by a brilliant young cellist named David Eggert which astounded me as the cello's sound was startlingly abstract and modern, something totally different from what one would think would issue forth from such a "well known" instrument. This unique power of abstraction really comes to the fore when listening to Bach as his exquisite Cello Suites are both sublime and "different" at the same time, thus encouraging anyone to experience the true power of great music for perhaps the very first time.