Their bow tips rise and fall over their nine violins with the discipline of smoothly moving piston rods. Be neath the ping of a pizzicato the big-bellied strings—three violas, three cellos and a ...

The cello, ah-boy. It looks like a fiddle with a Bowflex. The cello is as brown as a honey ham, and its sound is as sweet as caramel, melted, heavy. The instrument's reputation comes from centuries of ...