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The Strad: Great Or Just Very Good?

Gil Shaham plays the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius.";s:

Nearly 300 years after the death of Antonio Stadivarius, the classical music world is paying up more and more millions for his violins.  And audiences attend concerts advertised more for their instruments than those playing them.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns asks: should fiddles be calling the tunes?