At first Mr. DeRosa didn’t take Mr. Epstein’s command seriously. But Mr. Epstein kept calling, as did members of his staff, asking if he’d made any progress. Mr. DeRosa set about finding a cello.
Like many professional musicians, DeRosa was wired into a small world of rare instruments, some of which can fetch prices as high as $20million. His own cello, made by the Italian master Domenico Montagnana in 1739, is considered one of the world’s finest and is likely worth millions of dollars. Mr. DeRosa assured Mr. Epstein he wouldn’t have to spend that much.
Mr. DeRosa visited his mother in Los Angeles shortly after learning that a musician was selling a cello. (Before that, he had previously played the cello with a member the Indianapolis symphony Orchestra.
This cello was not a Stradivarius nor a Montagnana but it had a distinguished pedigree. It was manufactured by Ettore soffritti who worked in Ferrara’s string instrument center from late 1800s until his death, in 1928. Benning Violins, the Los Angeles dealer, described the cello’s sound as “rich and powerful” and said the instrument was “suitable for the finest of cellists.”
Mr. DeRosa tried out the cello. He was instantly smitten. He said he considered it “one of the greatest modern cellos in existence.” (By “modern” he meant any produced after the Italian Renaissance.) He also considered it a bargain, with an asking price of $185,000
Mr. Epstein seemed pleased when Mr. DeRosa told him he’d found something. He said the cello’s intended recipient — a young Israeli man named Yoed Nir — had to test the instrument first. Although Mr. DeRosa was familiar with most of the up-and-coming cellists, he had never heard about Mr. Nir.
Mr. DeRosa had the cello on a trial basis, and Mr. Nir tested the instrument on a visit to Mr. DeRosa’s mother’s house in Los Angeles. Mr. Nir, who was about 30 years old and had dark, shoulder-length hair, which he tossed theatrically while playing, played some of Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites. Although he had a degree from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Mr. DeRosa deemed his playing to be average by his high standards. He could think many young cellists that were more worthy of such an instrument. “I thought it incredibly odd that Jeffrey had chosen this guy,” Mr. DeRosa recalled.
Source: NY Times