Gen_NBD Doc.U.Mentary

Originally posted by NoBoDe: ↑

The Secret Of The Violin ( Stradivarius - Guarnerius )
-
There's so much that can be said about a production of this kind, it's difficult to know where to begin. I think it would be fair to say that the subject of old Italian violins, their sound quality, their provenance, history, past ownership above all what price they might fetch at auction, have become of overriding importance. Little or no attention is given to violas, there is passing acknowledgement to cellos, and almost nothing said about the contra bass.Nothing much is ever said about those people who hate the sound of a violin. In a similar way nothing is said about the imperfections inherent in the human ear. Being as I am now in my late 80's I am reminded daily that I have hearing impairment in the higher frequencies with a concomitant failure to hear sibilances in spoken speech. One wonders how prevalent this very common form of hearing impairment is a factor in the appreciation of the sound quality of an instrument old, or new.Many commentators have pointed out that there have been great changes in how music is played. In general I think it would be safe to say that the sound of the XXI century is louder, higher in pitch, and played at faster tempos than the values considered optimum in the XVIII century. So surreptitiously, one might assume, the old instruments have been beefed up to meet modern fashions. Without doubt the component having the greatest single effect would be the strings used, where modern strings are much higher - tech than traditional catgut.It's also sad that money, collectors, dealers, auction houses, charlatans, wannabes, con artists ..... are all factors circumscribing this instrument. An instrument which is small, portable, made from inexpensive materials and at its best and in the hands of the right player has a truly ineffable quality which some might feel comes to us as a divine gift.
-

-

Expand

@NoBoDe - beautiful instruments continue to be built by dedicated craftsmen all over the world, even here in W.A.
2 years ago I picked up an instrument from a luthier (a craftsman making string instruments) - who had tried all his life to produce wonderful instruments. He was originally from England and was already in his late 70s, when S. approached him by mail, to purchase a copy of a baroque instrument. His workshop was full of old wood, some of it already shaped into rough outlines for violins, violas and cellos; he had bought most of it overseas from Italy - and the work shop had the most wonderful smell.
So with much to-do it was purchased for $10 000, which is incredibly cheap and oldest daughter was paid to take it over to England by plane - S. recorded her last composition on that instrument -
The maker was hoping that at last he will become well-known for his beautiful violins, having supplied string instruments to various accomplished players in the W.A.S.O. - but he rarely received much feed-back.

Long story - it was delivered - S. was very happy with the quality, played it 'in' - recorded on it - and 1/2 year later passed away.
I was trying to figure out how to tell that sad ending to the luthier - only to find out, he had died 2 weeks prior to S. - in a way this was good news, because I would have worried forever, how to tell this wonderful man, that his last instrument is probably sitting in a wardrobe top shelf being ignored by my drummer-boy son-in-law who is not interested in violins.

A good violinist can make almost any fiddle sound good even a very average one - it['s when it becomes to long and difficult passages when a really good instrument comes into its own.

The mini ice-age talked about happened in the early middle ages - just at the time when the first settlers went to America.

Listening to the recording whilst typing this, they do have differing sound qualities, but beautiful sounding modern instrument are being made, but thankyou for posting this!!!!! String instruments remain my favourite musical instrument - and with a stretch of the imagination I can call my piano also a string instrument - I am going to have some work done on it next year!!

Go well
Taurisk