Hands of a virtuoso

Cho-Liang Lin is a Taiwan-born violin virtuoso whose discography includes solo recordings with many of the finest orchestras in the country and collaborations with luminaries such as Isaac Stern and Yo-Yo Ma. His hands summon from the violin some of the most beautiful music ever written.

Lin's hands now have been captured in a 400-pound block of white Vermont marble sculpted by Dr. Jean Chapman, a Cape Girardeau allergist who has devoted his retirement to art. The project, an undertaking that has consumed Chapman for the past year, was commissioned by Lin's wife, Deborah.

She and Chapman became friends when he was president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Also an allergist, she was on the college's board.

Chapman spent about 1,000 hours creating the sculpture, far more than he expected. "This is so delicate," he said of his task.

No violin or bow are present, but Lin's fine hands are shaped as they would be to play a concerto.

Lin's fingers are relatively short, somewhat like Chapman's own. Though an experienced sculptor, he had to chisel carefully because white marble can be easily "bruised."

"You change the orientation of the molecules when you hit it with a chisel," Chapman said.

Starting small

Chapman started by making some much smaller models. One combined the hands of Lin, his mother and the hands of Dorothy DeLay, a Julliard faculty member whose students include Lin, Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Sarah Chang and Chee-Yun. That version did not quite work for the Lins, but they have tentatively approved this one.

Working with the marble inside Lin's hands was the most difficult part, Chapman said. Dr. George Farrar, a retired Cape Girardeau dentist, suggested he use a bur dentists once used to make teeth. Tom Phillips, an architect, suggested a chuck that would help.

After many hours of toiling with different grades of sandpaper, the sculpture is perfectly smooth. Chapman decided it must be that way after first considering a rough-hewn effect at the back of the hands.

"Cho-Liang is so controlled, I figured he would be offended by that," he said.

Lin is on the faculty of the Julliard School and artistic director of Summerfest La Jolla. He grew up in Taiwan, the son of a nuclear physicist. While a teen-ager in Australia, Itzhak Perlman heard him and recommended he pursue studies with DeLay.

As a player, Lin is known as masterful and passionate perfectionist who devotes himself exclusively to classical music. But the lineup for his 2001 La Jolla music festival in August demonstrated his love for other approaches to making music. The program included a tribute to the late jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli by Mark O'Connor, an instrumentalist who has proven himself comfortable making country, classical and jazz.

Chapman tells a story that illustrates Lin's nature as well. The Chapmans were meeting the Lins at the Denver airport. Lin went into the bathroom while Deborah held his priceless Guarneri violin. But when she saw the Chapmans, she ran over to greet them.

When he eventually found them, Lin was grinning. "I thought I'd lost my wife," he said.

Chapman will place the sculpture on a black granite base before he and his wife, Nona, travel to La Jolla for next summer's music festival to deliver the sculpture in person.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

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