What is amazing in this pairing is the raw spontaneity from Camara, both on vocals and on the one-string violin called the riti.

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' That moment resembles the tragic section in his Opus 132 String Quartet where the violin tries to sing in a choked voice.

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They played "The Four Seasons of Afghanistan, " a version of Antonio Vivaldi's violin concertos adapted to include Afghan instruments like the plucked string rabab.

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Mr Zygmuntowicz, who has also made instruments for Joshua Bell and the Emerson String Quartet, is rated as one of the best violin-makers alive.

ECONOMIST: Violin-making

String teachers at the conservatory keep their own melancholy catalogue of colleagues who have left to teach violin in Europe and the United States.

ECONOMIST: Classical music in Moscow