DANIEL AND PAOLONot so many words are needed to describe the latest two works by M° Daniel Tobias Navea Vera, as you will see, pictures speak for themselves. It is however dutiful to express a thank to whom gave the incipit to the making of these two wonders; Merci monsieur Millant !
Cello bow by D.T. Navea Vera (click to enlarge)
Violin bow by D.T. Navea Vera (click to enlarge) Apart being two wonderful bows, Daniel and Paolo, gave us one of the best time in our working cooperation. The story begins a few months ago. You might remember that in June Daniel and I went to Paris to meet M° Bernard Millant and during that meeting we showed him the "The Giuranna", the viola bow devoted to M° Bruno Giuranna.
The Maestro, who hardly knew my colleague's work , was impressed about it and invited us to participate in the competition "Etienne Vatelot" in Paris, which ended last week. I pointed out to the Maestro that we are Italians, and since we were not fully following the current styles of French fashion, maybe it was useless to participate. He was almost upset and saying that He would have been the chairman of the committee, strongly reiterated his invitation.
I do not know why, maybe due to some rip offs we were subjected to during the Napoleonic era, as Italians we are always a little wary about Frenchmen's enticements but, this time, they were very strong and insistent so that, at the end, we let them convince us .
After the decision was taken, we started with the preparation. The first question was: do we go on our way or do we have to frenchify for the competition? The answer was immediate and categoric: - "I don't do French, I do myself." - First problem solved.
The second question was: do we use very dark wood so dear to the late French school or do we choose a wood that can sound regardless of the color it has ? This time mine was the categorical answer : - "If they win or not, I want them to sound therefore let's choose the wood upon our standard"
The search began. The wood (Special Reserve) was lying on my dining table along with a good coffee and, after an hour or so, spent in handling one stick after the other , Daniel, at a certain moment, took one in his hand and said "This one . " From that stick , thanks to his art, "Daniel" the cello bow came out.
The reason why I wanted to name it Daniel, is simple, this bow is his perfect mirror, refined and educated but with a Latin heart. Daniel came to Europe also to learn how to build violins, but especially because, as he told me just a few days ago, who is born here has the great luck to breathe and enjoy things that, for many people, are difficult even to see for real: Raphael, Caravaggio and Bernini. Daniel came to seek the cult of beauty, he found and absorbed it , albeit with a very Latin look as revealed by the marbling of this wood: bright ,alive and deep. Even the ivory shoe is spotted.
The winding or better windings, since even for the violin is the same, are the result of a technical problem tied to the competition. As you know by now, the winding of our bows is carried out with gold ribbon and tortoise shell, but the customs documents to be submitted were unclear, therefore fearing to be disqualified because of a quibble, we were forced to invent something else . Fake black and white whalebone? Horrific. Gold on silk? Unwatchable. At the end Daniel gave birth to what you see. A winding carried out with three wires, two made of silk (black and yellow), and a golden ribbon. The two of us made it and it was a great fun. I was holding the wire spools , while He rolled them alternately, we looked like two old women spinning wool.
Even to find an ebony which could be suitable for a competition was not that easy. I turned heaven and earth to find what I wanted and, at the end, even if we paid it more like gold than wood, the result is well worth the effort.
The button is in three parts, with the core of ebony and heart-shaped mother of pearl and it is a lesson in the construction technique !
As Daniel, who has built roughly thousand bows in his life, said - "This is one out of the three most beautiful bows I have done in my life.". In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful cello bow I have ever seen.
Paolo
The other stick we choose that famous afternoon is the one you see in the pictures. It is very different from the previous one , but no less powerful, it has a more mysterious beauty.
The almost icy beauty of the left side of the head tends to mislead, but looking the other hand, we realize the texture of this wood. Lines of very dense medullar rays that give, to both shape and sound, an impressive width and depth.
There is not so much to comment about Daniel's output except to congratulate with him for having extended the bevel, thus giving more presence and character to the shape.
And now the frog. Obviously beauty is, sometimes, a personal concept, objectivity, however, wtinesses that the frog that you see below is executed in flawlessly way, we can say perfect, if perfection would exist.
Let's speak about ebony. The supplier, by whom I could find it decided to sell it after having begged him in several languages. He opened a small drawer and pulled out a plastic bag containing these three pieces of Gabon ebony, a tag on it said "No again". Just for decency I am not telling you how much I paid for it.
And then Daniel. This frog moves, it is aggressive, yet very soft lines where lines run one after the oter facilitating and guiding the eye where the author wants it to go. I do not speak as an expert, but with the passionate part of me, it is not the most beautiful frog I have ever seen, or at least not only this one, but it is the one that affects me more emotionally.
But let's finish the story. After having worked hard for a couple of months, the great day arrived. We arrived in Paris and to our joy, we had the honor of being the first Italians to reach a final in a French competition and be exhibited in Paris , although we had hoped for a better result. Never mind, we enjoyed a lot building , designing and talk philosophically about them, furthermore the opinion was based only upon an aesthetical point of view, bows were not supposed to be put thru a sound test. The only hint of irritation, which lasted only a moment, was when I asked M° Millant about an explanation. You may remember that when we were invited by the Master, we pointed him out that the Italian style was not especially welcome in France and that I had the impression that they just wanted us to strictly follow the French style. I was told by him -"No, what we want are only beautiful bows" - A hug Mestro !
Daniel Personal model cello bow with: Stick: pernambuco wood - very marbled , orange colour, high density, sound velocity 5915, round section, radial cut Frog: ebony, gold , “heart-shaped” mother of pearl Button: three parts, in gold, ebony “heart-shaped” mother of pearl Winding: two silk wires, yellow and black and gold ribbon, without welding Paolo Personal model violin bow with Stick: pernambuco wood – dark orange, high density, sound velocity 5960 , round section, radial cut Frog: ebony, gold , “heart-shaped” mother of pearl Button: three parts, in gold , ebony “heart-shaped” mother of pearl Winding: two silk wires, yellow and black, and a gold ribbon, without welding
So long and ... "Vive la France ! Vive le Général De Gaulle !" Paolo
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