JavierPortero

Nice instrument Stephen

So, here a recording I made on a modern viola copy of the Archinto Stradivari made in 2010 by Martin Gorostiaga in Buenos Aires. The instrument was used extensively since it was fresh from the maker, shows lots of wear now, the oil varnish cracked quite a bit. I agree the sound is not as expansive as the modern Amati copy I have made in Cremona but the Stradivari model is SO easy to play, even across the scale and also exquisite design.

What happened with this project? Great sounding viola models with plans woud be great.

I think is great for a world class string player to perform on a brand new, pristine varnished instrument. Audience don't care if the violin is even a Strad, they are there because of the music or maybe just to be entertained a bit. All instruments were eventually new. I am really thankful to the maker when I comissioned my viola that he didn't wanted to age the instrument. 10 seasons and oil varnish made the instrument look great now.

The Gibson

The Russian

The Russian

The Tuscan Medici

The Mac Donald, the Medici Tenor and the Archinto

The Russian

As a player I really like Strad violas, the sound really cuts, they are confortable to play and In my experience with the model they work in a quartet context.

Ciao Manfio, Why you think that happens? An the sound comes from the player I agree... The Mac Donald Strad sounded really different in the hands of Schidloff, David Carpenter and Yehudi Menuhin (Walton concerto).

It is also tricky for the player, totally agree, a great or different bow helps a lot. I find my viola works different in different halls, so sometimes more bow is needed, sometimes more pressure, depending on the acoustics and reverb, sound coming back from the back of the hall etc.

For some reason Stradivari violas are not regarded as model instruments, Some fine players used Stradivari violas with success, some still do: Peter Schidlof and the Mac Donald Stradivari viola William Primrose and the Mac Donald Strad Vengerov and the Archinto Barshai and the Russian Strad viola Antoine Tamestit and the Mahler Strad viola Lech Antonio Uszynski playing the Gibson The great Bruno Giuranna playing the Russian Quartetto di Cremona with the Paganini viola Maybe some more videos are out there, I think the violas sound great...