July 14th 2026年7月14日
(* no relation to composer Benedetto Marcello 1686-1739 😄)
I start this post with an issue which has puzzled me for a long time.
💥 First, three examples:
1. When we used to go camping as a family in the south of France we would enjoy a bottle or two of the local red vino One year, in my enthusiasm, I brought a bottle back home to Germany. But when I poured a glass out of it here it tasted only like some cheap plonk. What was so special about this wine ?
2.Years ago, on a hot summers’ day in Dublin, Ireland, I sought refuge in a pub and ordered a glass of draught Guinness. It was heaven ☘️ But drink a Guinness here in Germany? No. It simply does not compete with a good Pils.
3. A friend of mine recently came to stay, cooking the most delicious meals 🍜 with the simplest of ingredients – even buying the veg from the local REWE supermarket
After she had returned to Tokyo I tried to use the ingredients which she had left behind for me. It just didn’t taste the same. 😕 So what is this phenomena? Do you know it yourself? Does it have a name?
The word transubstantiation comes to mind, but the theologians have already commandeered this word. Any suggestions? Was it the climate of the south of France? Was it the atmosphere of the Dublin pub? Was it who cooked the Japanese meal? There is something metaphysical going on here beyond rational comprehension.
💥 This is my ‘cello.
It’s a ‘cello I have never sold. Why’s that? : because I was never satisfied with the sound. I built it in Wiesbaden in 1993…seems ages ago now, but instruments have long lives….like a good wine…..
I had found a huge slab of poplar at a wood dealer in Bavaria…..
💥 Now I have tried everything to improve the sound – putting in a new bassbar, altering the angle of the neck etc. etc.
Recently, getting back to playing chamber music again, I needed a ‘cello. How ironic, an instrument maker without his own ‘cello! My eye fell on this instrument, languishing in the corner of the workshop feeling rather sorrow with itself. I dusted it off and tried new strings. I was still not satisfied 😕
Then one day my cello mentor Liudmila said to me – have you tried this endpin?
Sceptically, I inserted it into the bottom of the ‘cello. It was very heavy, with its titanium core and brass sheath…..
💥 It was if I had put a rocket underneath the instrument 🚀 Wow! Suddenly the sound became focused and soloistic.
I must buy one I thought! but hello: – 580€? 💶 Come on! You must be joking! It was then that I noticed where it was made. Yes, you guessed it – Japan. How convenient that I was expecting a visitor from the land of the rising sun soon. A quick call to a ‘cellist friend in Chiba and the order to a firm in Osaka followed…….. and two weeks later my visitor arrived with it in her suitcase (with a sensible price tag attached!)
💥 Now I am a happy man 😊 playing with violin or piano whenever the opportunity arises…..(although there have been anxious moments with Japanese buses!)
My violinist has a curious tuning app…..
Sometimes we have an audience…..(It has to be mentioned that poorSchmoozy is half deaf)
Dreieich-Sprendlingen.….15 minutes on the OF 99 bus to Seligenstadt. (`cello free of charge)
Sagamihara shi…..15 hours with SAS to Haneda airport,Tokyo..(‘cello not included in the ticket….)
💥Are you an amateur violinist (living in the Frankfurt area!) interested in playing chamber music? Do get in contact. Whether it be duets, piano trios or whatever. Tel: 06103 4877885 or nigelwruddock@gmail.com I would be happy to hear from you
💥 one of the advantages of being an amateur player is that you don’t have to worry about your reputation……for this clipped (!) version of On Wings of Song you just have to imagine a rippling piano accompaniment, that’s all 🎹……(professional musicians are allowed to scroll on at this point…)
💥 Part of the fun of being a violinmaker is getting whacky requests. A pick up? Oh you want a strong cup of coffee do you?…nooooo…”I’m playing at the Mousonturm next week on stage….”
💥 Enter singer/songwriter Momo. She needs a pick up fitted to her violin, but also, as it turns out, a strong coffee. Listen, I’m a violinmaker. I don’t do all that electronic stuff do I?
Anyway, I get the job done……
Now I’m curious to hear the result. So off I go to the Nippon Connection film festival to check out the band.
💥Ohho. I was so glad I went. Momo and her group _Mo_xSHIKI had the audience in the palm of their hands. It was a sell out. No middle-of-the road band this. Uncompromisingly innovative, (…and slightly weird ) songs backed up by Silas (‘cello) Marko (guitar) Lorenzo (piano) and Naomi (vocals), with guest rapper Gocchanko. What a line up. The audience loved it. I think they, like myself, they had never heard anything quite like it before
👉🏼 More on social media at 0ii_moh_ii0 (type a zero and not an O)
Well, that’s all for now. I was walking in the Rheingau on Saturday, so I’ll leave you with a image from the cherry plantations of Walluf…..mmm lecker…….美味し…….delicious 😋
Bis demnächst…. またね….. see you………
THE END 終わる 🙋🏼♂️
The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め 