Mine is the one on the right...

THE MESSIAH
This morning was a very unusual morning. I visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and was allowed to spend some time holding the Messiah Stradivari.
For those who don't know, the Messiah is generally accepted to be the most perfectly preserved Strad in existence. It is in absolutely mint condition, due to the fact that it has been owned entirely by collectors since it left the maker's workshop. Made in 1716, it has almost never been played.
The reason for my being allowed anywhere near it is long and I won't bore anyone with it, but I did take a picture of this 'Mona Lisa of Strads' lying next to my own Strad, which was a horrible and unfair thing to do- although to be honest, from a distance, I thought the Messiah looked like a fiddle out of a factory in France, due to the fact it has the appearance of a brand new violin. When you look closer though it has all the beauty, as well as all the quirks, of Stradavari's violins, and the fact it looks so new is a wonder of the world, since it is actually 300 years old.
It was a truly memorable experience, and I am well aware it will likely never be repeated...

2 BEACHES AND A RIVER
This last week has been a long one, but it included 3 brilliant trips.
It started with a weekend in one of my favourite places in France- Deauville. I have been going to Deauville several times a year for a while now and growing increasingly fond of it. Most famous perhaps for the film festival held there, Deauville is a beautiful town on the sea in Northern France. It is also extremely famous for it's horse racing and polo- both of which I have thoroughly enjoyed going to see. The Easter festival is held in a hall which is also used for the auctioning of horses which gives it a rather unique atmosphere. The audiences are wonderful, and the festival in general is one of my very favourites anywhere.
During the concert, we made the unfortunate decision to repeat the final movement of Mendelssohn's Octet for an encore, and we ended up at a pace which we should all have been arrested for. I got confused in the last line and finished 2 notes after everyone else. I have been left severely traumatised by the experience.
After a few days of therapy I was back on my horse and in Brighton to play Tchaikovsky with the London Philharmonic. The orchestra was in amazing shape and played a really superb Sibelius 2nd symphony after the interval.
As I walked along Brighton beach a few hours before the concert I watched the crowds of happy people drinking beer and playing games like volleyball. I felt angry that they were allowed to drink beer in the afternoon when I wasn't. Often, on normal non-concert days, I feel guilty that I am able to sun-bathe if I want, or drink vodka with my breakfast while other people are on the tube to work. I vowed to remember the moment on Brighton beach next time that happens.
From there I went to Dublin, where I watched Anthony Marwood play a fantastic Schumann concerto. He is really a great violinist I think, and I recommend everyone who hasn't to go and hear him.
Perhaps most memorable this week was the fact that my hotel room in Brighton was number 430. In Dublin? 430. What are the chances of that? AND, in Brighton, they told me there were 3 Truslers in the hotel that night..... This must surely have been a lie as I've never met another one. At breakfast I asked the manager to look at the guest list and the best he could do was a Julia Truscott.
Close but no cigar.


On stage with the LPO. I promise I'm there, really...