The Adventures of a Cello

"Music as a great adventure of mind and body: this is what Carlos Prieto gives us in this spirited book."--Carlos Fuentes "Like Rostropovich, Carlos Prieto is a true champion of the cello. A creative artist, scholar, and storyteller, Carlos has been a prolific contributor to the flow of music throughout the western hemisphere, premiering compositions of some of the greatest contemporary composers and helping to nurture and develop an entire generation of Latin America's most talented musicians. I am privileged to know him as a colleague and honored to call him my friend." --Yo-Yo Ma In 1720, Antonio Stradivari crafted an exquisite work of art-a cello known as the Piatti. Over the next three centuries of its life, the Piatti cello left its birthplace of Cremona, Italy, and resided in Spain, Ireland, England, Italy, Germany, and the United States. The Piatti filled sacred spaces, such as the Santa Cueva de Cadiz, with its incomparable voice.^ It also spent time in more profane places, including New York City bars, where it served as a guarantee for unpaid liquor tabs. The Piatti narrowly escaped Nazi Germany in 1935 and was once even left lying in the street all night. In 1978, the P