Arbos

I wonder what a pre 1900s Leandro Bisiach would go for now considering how much Poggi is appreciating.

Well, part of the experiment was asking whether the trial experience was sufficient and most of them thought it was.

Didn’t they play a combination of Stradivari, del Gesu and modern?

I wasn’t surprised by the results of the Paris experiment. You take extremely good players who play excellent instruments, old or new, and they get to try more excellent instruments. To a certain extent the only thing that was proven is that they have different tastes (although the winning instrument was consistently ranked highly). I would be interested to see a study that throws at them some very well set up $3500-5000 Chinese violins.

Hard to tell without pictures. I find that having a short pinky is usually no problem if your palm is large enough (at the end of the day you have to curl the fingers!).

This is incredible. I for sure will be bidding!

My American students refuse to sing, my Spanish ones don’t. My theory is that while in the US music is taught primarily through the instrument, in Spain they learn solfege and choir from the beginning. But I would never say “Americans can’t sing”. I can’t say whether Zukerman is racist or not, but this was not the first time he has mimicked random “Asian” sounds or reproduced stereotypes. Since I am Spanish I’m sure he’d told me to be more passional when I play, or something like that. I am just surprised at how the world works. Why did this particular occasion deserve such a response, and why are people acting surprised and offended *now*, when he’s done the same thing so many times?

Rue, while I agree with you it is hardly the first time he’s mocked Asian people. I was surprised to see a reaction, to be honest.

Only it wasn’t criticism, it was telling them Korean and Japanese people don’t sing because it’s not in their DNA.

If you want to listen to A Gregory in her full glory she has a very good record on Spotify, playing Russian music. If she is playing Don’s violin I think it would be a more faithful test of the instrument.

Hilary Hahn liked her Vuillaume so much she bought another one. Kavakos has played and owned a number of Stradivari violins, same for Joshua Bell. Apparently not any Stradivari is a definitive instrument since soloists like to swap them that much.

How do you know what the “good” ones are? Doesn’t taste count? I tried a 1689 Strad that I liked a lot (and supposedly those are not as good as the Golden Period ones) and then I was not impressed with the del Gesu “Mary Portman” that was played by Kreisler. Also I am not trying to say that everybody in this business acts foolishly, but sometimes I wish people were more naive and just bought what they liked. That would be a more sensible decision than purchasing the copy of what a soloist likes.

I still can’t understand how trying to copy a particular instrument down to the smallest detail and promising that it will look and sound almost like the original (which the buyer probably has never played) can be a viable business strategy. I guess the idea is that if you play like Heifetz (you don’t) your violin won’t hold you back because it is just like his (it isn’t)!

I can’t wait to see awfully antiqued Chinese instruments from the 2000’s for $20000 each. Oh, and then the threads on Maestronet asking whether a particular example is real!

Well, I don’t make instruments, I was just curious! Seeing how the change in models come from players’ preferences I wonder whether modern taste would mean a change in model. It seems to me that innovation in violin making can be found in more precise copying and new strings. Indeed, viola making is a field more open to change and innovation.