The Rainaldi Quartet
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When Gianni Castiglione, a 63-year-old violin-maker from Cremona, meets the three friends with whom he has played string quartets for fifteen years, he has no way of knowing that within hours one of them, violin-maker Tomaso Rainaldi, will be found stabbed to death in his workshop. Tomaso has been searching for a missing Stradivari, "The Messiah's Sister," supposedly a twin to "Le Messie" ("The Messiah"), the most famous and most valuable violin on earth, now in the Ashmolean Museum in England and worth over ten million dollars. Castiglione tells Antonio Guastafeste, a detective with the Questura, who is another member of Rainaldi's quartet, that if "another perfect, untouched Stradivari," such as "The Messiah's Sister" were to come onto the open market, that it would be "an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime, maybe once in several lifetimes, if ever."
As Castiglione and Guastafeste search for Rainaldi's killer by recreating Rainaldi's search for "The Messiah's Sister," they delve into all facets of violin history, craftsmanship, and ownership; the nature of collectors and their motivations; fakes and how they are created; and the importance of documentation and provenance. Investigating several competing collectors, Castiglione and Guastafeste eventually travel to Venice, the moors of rural England, a small town on the Po River, London, and various locations in and around Cremona. The concert debut of Rainaldi's young granddaughter and a London auction of rare violins are full of breathtakingly exciting moments, adding color and insight into the lives of serious violinists and collectors.
Though the stories of the various violins are complex, the author's insights into the hidden world of violin collecting keep the reader on tenterhooks. The dramatic tension is enhanced through the character of the narrator, Gianni Castiglione, a man with whom the reader empathizes, and whose interior monologues and musings about Tomaso Rainaldi and his own deceased loved ones make his personal reactions to the unfolding events particularly moving. When this kind and sensitive man confesses to a crime committed when he was young, the reader is all the more shocked by the revelation.
Additional deaths, mysterious strangers, a dotty old woman surrounded by cats, a jealous violin teacher, ancient letters, an unusual portrait, a visit to a cemetery at night, and a life or death confrontation inject romantic elements into this challenging mystery and keep the action and excitement at a high pitch. Music lovers will thrill at this unusual mystery with its insights into the society of serious violin collectors, a novel that is carefully plotted and constructed, filled with a high level of unusual detail, and great fun to read. Mary Whipple
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
"[This violin] is a work of art to rank alongside the 'Mona Lisa,' the Divine Comedy, the operas of Verdi."
18 Mar 2006
Format:Hardcover
When Gianni Castiglione, a 63-year-old violin-maker from Cremona, meets the three friends with whom he has played string quartets for fifteen years, he has no way of knowing that within hours one of them, violin-maker Tomaso Rainaldi, will be found stabbed to death in his workshop. Tomaso has been searching for a missing Stradivari, "The Messiah's Sister," supposedly a twin to "Le Messie" ("The Messiah"), the most famous and most valuable violin on earth, now in the Ashmolean Museum in England and worth over ten million dollars. Castiglione tells Antonio Guastafeste, a detective with the Questura, who is another member of Rainaldi's quartet, that if "another perfect, untouched Stradivari," such as "The Messiah's Sister" were to come onto the open market, that it would be "an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime, maybe once in several lifetimes, if ever."
As Castiglione and Guastafeste search for Rainaldi's killer by recreating Rainaldi's search for "The Messiah's Sister," they delve into all facets of violin history, craftsmanship, and ownership; the nature of collectors and their motivations; fakes and how they are created; and the importance of documentation and provenance. Investigating several competing collectors, Castiglione and Guastafeste eventually travel to Venice, the moors of rural England, a small town on the Po River, London, and various locations in and around Cremona. The concert debut of Rainaldi's young granddaughter and a London auction of rare violins are full of breathtakingly exciting moments, adding color and insight into the lives of serious violinists and collectors.
Though the stories of the various violins are complex, the author's insights into the hidden world of violin collecting keep the reader on tenterhooks. The dramatic tension is enhanced through the character of the narrator, Gianni Castiglione, a man with whom the reader empathizes, and whose interior monologues and musings about Tomaso Rainaldi and his own deceased loved ones make his personal reactions to the unfolding events particularly moving. When this kind and sensitive man confesses to a crime committed when he was young, the reader is all the more shocked by the revelation.
Additional deaths, mysterious strangers, a dotty old woman surrounded by cats, a cruelly jealous violin teacher, ancient and crumbling letters, a portrait containing secrets, a visit to a graveyard at night, and a life or death confrontation and race inject romantic elements into this challenging mystery and keep the action and excitement at a high pitch. Music lovers will thrill at this unusual mystery with its insights into the society of serious violin collectors, a novel that is carefully plotted and constructed, filled with a high level of unusual detail, and great fun to read. n Mary Whipple
As Castiglione and Guastafeste search for Rainaldi's killer by recreating Rainaldi's search for "The Messiah's Sister," they delve into all facets of violin history, craftsmanship, and ownership; the nature of collectors and their motivations; fakes and how they are created; and the importance of documentation and provenance. Investigating several competing collectors, Castiglione and Guastafeste eventually travel to Venice, the moors of rural England, a small town on the Po River, London, and various locations in and around Cremona. The concert debut of Rainaldi's young granddaughter and a London auction of rare violins are full of breathtakingly exciting moments, adding color and insight into the lives of serious violinists and collectors.
Though the stories of the various violins are complex, the author's insights into the hidden world of violin collecting keep the reader on tenterhooks. The dramatic tension is enhanced through the character of the narrator, Gianni Castiglione, a man with whom the reader empathizes, and whose interior monologues and musings about Tomaso Rainaldi and his own deceased loved ones make his personal reactions to the unfolding events particularly moving. When this kind and sensitive man confesses to a crime committed when he was young, the reader is all the more shocked by the revelation.
Additional deaths, mysterious strangers, a dotty old woman surrounded by cats, a cruelly jealous violin teacher, ancient and crumbling letters, a portrait containing secrets, a visit to a graveyard at night, and a life or death confrontation and race inject romantic elements into this challenging mystery and keep the action and excitement at a high pitch. Music lovers will thrill at this unusual mystery with its insights into the society of serious violin collectors, a novel that is carefully plotted and constructed, filled with a high level of unusual detail, and great fun to read. n Mary Whipple
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
The most profoundly beautiful mystery I've ever read.
31 July 2006
Format:Hardcover
Picking up this book is like picking up a beautiful bouquet of flowers that are intricately mixed, or biting into a layered cake, each layer more exquisite than the last. It's difficult to know where to start to review this book. The plot of a quartet of men who play classical music together in Italy, makes our American cultural tendency of men getting together to play golf once a week look extremely shallow, is a good place to start. Four men with different lives, different jobs but an enjoyment of good music is extraordinary enough to draw attention today (though I remember my father spending time from work and family to play the trombone in a local symphony)...which may explain some of my feelings for this book.
One man is killed for no obvious reason, and two of the other men, one a luther (a person who creates violins)like the man who was murdered, and the other, a detective are determined to find who murdered their beloved friend. With each page turning another layer of an intricately woven story comes with exquisite descriptions of the violin 'creating' industry--they do not make them, they are a creation as grand as any master's painting. This alone makes the book worth the read, in introducing the reader to a unique life with a uniquely-chosen career. Men and women who take wood and shape it into the curves of a musical instrument who must have an ear to finely tune the wood through sanding, through the varnishing, all the different techniques used to do this job...yet they themselves are not concert violinists...they merely make the job of a concert violinist easier.
Adam writes beautifully of the Italy I would like to see someday. Not the crowded plazas of Vienna, but the back roads and little museums devoted to long forgotten artisans (though Stradivarius will probably never be forgoten). The author allows us as readers to see, to feel, to touch, to hear, to taste so much through words that I've rarely seen the skill in one author before...let alone one who writes a mystery. Not usually a genre one expects to find such a beautiful work in.
This book is sheer elegance in everything; in the relationships between the four men and their families, the work they do which all require different but the same abilities (they all do types of research in different ways)...I cannot simply praise this book enough!
Karen Sadler
One man is killed for no obvious reason, and two of the other men, one a luther (a person who creates violins)like the man who was murdered, and the other, a detective are determined to find who murdered their beloved friend. With each page turning another layer of an intricately woven story comes with exquisite descriptions of the violin 'creating' industry--they do not make them, they are a creation as grand as any master's painting. This alone makes the book worth the read, in introducing the reader to a unique life with a uniquely-chosen career. Men and women who take wood and shape it into the curves of a musical instrument who must have an ear to finely tune the wood through sanding, through the varnishing, all the different techniques used to do this job...yet they themselves are not concert violinists...they merely make the job of a concert violinist easier.
Adam writes beautifully of the Italy I would like to see someday. Not the crowded plazas of Vienna, but the back roads and little museums devoted to long forgotten artisans (though Stradivarius will probably never be forgoten). The author allows us as readers to see, to feel, to touch, to hear, to taste so much through words that I've rarely seen the skill in one author before...let alone one who writes a mystery. Not usually a genre one expects to find such a beautiful work in.
This book is sheer elegance in everything; in the relationships between the four men and their families, the work they do which all require different but the same abilities (they all do types of research in different ways)...I cannot simply praise this book enough!
Karen Sadler
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Violin historians rejoice; mystery lovers dispair
15 Feb 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you loved Da Vinci Code, and have an interest in the nefarious ways of collectors of anything, but particularly violins, you will love this book. Otherwise give it a pass. The hero is a 63-year old luthier (violin maker) and potentially an engaging hero. The detective with whom he searches for a lost violin is flat and undeveloped although he is on nearly every page of the book. There are sketches of interesting characters...a charming but batty English woman, a wealthy, insane collector, a nearly too perfect love interest, a shadowy villain whose purpose is merely to illustrate collectors' lust and, in the only comic moment, a stereotypical librarian. The writing is nearly as bad as Da Vinci Code, breaking his own narrative flow and much in need of a strong editor. Peeks into the Italian and English countryside are much better developed by other writers (Donna Leon for one, but many others). The mystery is a side note, forgotten for most of the book, almost completely subsumed to the history of violin making and collecting and uncovering the trail of a lost violin. Happily, the history is interesting which is the only reason I put the second star in my rating. Recommended only for desperate moments in airports when you need a book before the flight leaves.
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