Paganini's Gut

Went to a concert by the HK City Chamber Orchestra on the weekend where they played excerpts from Paganini's opera "Tancredi" ... except, instead of the usual violin strings, they used ... cat gut!

Apparently it was how Paganini was meant to sound. Yup, the way his music would have sounded back in the early 19th century when he composed his operas.

What happened, apparently, was some smarty pants recently found an envelope of Paganini's original violin strings and took them to Italy's greatest cat gut fabricator (yup, they still have 'em) and had them duplicated ... and HK got to hear the result.

Mmmmmmph!

It was indeed a beautiful concert. The HK City Chamber Orchestra is always worth listening to, the "I Palpiti" was extraordinary, the guest artiste Andrea Zanchetta was amazing, and Paganini's music is always stunning, and yet there are things folk do that make you ask yourself WHY?   Like, why folks imagine things were done better in the past?

And also ... why did cats have to die for this?

Yes, I know I'm a musical philistine, however I do have a piece of wise advice: Do NOT use cat gut for violin strings, people! Yes, I know they say it's a more "organic" sound, a more whole sound, but that organic-whole-esques-nessity makes for an icky after-sound. Like, when the violinists hit the side of the strings, it makes an odd kinda screech that makes you think of nothing more than cats crying.