Nathan Milstein's final public performance at age 83

Russian born Nathan Mironovich Milstein (1904-1992) was widely considered to be one of the greatest virtuosos of the violin of the 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Milstein

For his final concert, Milstein chose the challenging Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin by J.S. Bach, also known as the "Chaconne". A very powerful and moving piece designed to be played alone by one violin without any accompaniment, it's believed the Chaconne was written in remembrance of the passing of Bach's wife. Violinist Joshua Bell has called Bach's Chaconne "not just one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, but one of the greatest achievements of any man in history. It's a spiritually powerful piece, emotionally powerful, structurally perfect."

Composer Johannes Brahms, in a letter to Clara Schumann, had trouble putting the extent of his admiration for this piece into words:

"...On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind. ..."

Keep in mind that this entire piece is played on one four-stringed violin, although at times, with the double-stops (two or more strings played at once) and other effects of technique it sounds like more than one instrument playing. I try to listen to this incredible piece at least once a month and I somehow feel like a better person as a result.