Sunday, September 05, 2004

Ramblings of a Jewish Cellist

In an article about his experiences as a traveling cellist player, Steven Isserlis recalls this story:


On my most recent trip, I was signing CDs after the concert when a woman came up to me. "My son sends his best wishes - he's a cellist too, and he says he particularly admires the way you're so open about your faith." "Er, what faith does he mean?" I asked, a bit non-plussed. "Christianity, of course," the woman replied. "But I'm Jewish," I told her. For a moment, she seemed taken aback; but she recovered quickly. "Oh, that's alright - my son loves Jewish music too," she said. "So much so, in fact, that he recently refused to play Bloch's Jewish songs at a cocktail party." I've been wondering about that remark ever since.

Talk about a Freudian slip....