Million dollar Guadagnini violin - thrashed!

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by Violinist

It isn't ever really played. Whenever someone gets to perfom on it or record with it, you get 2 hours to prepare and 6 mercinaries are watching you do it. It's an incredibly difficult violin to play. The thickness of the top plates requires a lot of force to get the sound that is meant to be heard. Because of the restrictions on how this violin is used and loaned out, the public doesn't really have regular opportunities to hear it, and frankly, the biggest concert artists stay away from it because of the restrictions. It's mostly second tier performers who have performed on it/recorded with it... Eugene Fodor, Massimo Quarta.... career wise they don't have as much to lose.

Well, I meant more the fact that the curator gets to play it basically at will. Teatro Colon in Bs. As. has a few Strads (not just violins) for example, but they are never used and just sit on shelves, behind glass . At least Il Cannone gets taken out.

Jon.

 

[Violinist]

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[antirabbit]

There is the Messiah Strad, that is worth more than all of them put together!

I like Bergonzi personally.....But Yeah, I prefer Del Gesu but that is more because I prefer playing 20th century concertos.

Mozart and I dont do well together.

I have a fiddle that was scientifically modeled after a Del Gesu made by Paul Kaul.

Not worth anything in the relm of these old masters, but can kick some ass on stage.

That violinist is as cheezy as dancing Irish girls or any of the others trying to make classical music "cool". Classical is what it is, and can not be "hipped" up. I think this ploy pushes people away, well it pushes me away.

 

[Violinist]

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[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by Violinist

The best Strad and del Gesu are pretty much unmatched except by current living makers who have been studying these same violins their whole lives. They can now make copies which can get a pretty good sound. Maybe not as good though.


Functionally, why is that? Were they such unworldly craftsmen that even the best of the living makers can't match them? Is part of it that age itself, at least if you start with a certain quality of instrument, will enhance tonality and can't be replicated artificially? If that's the case, are the best violins turned out by contemporary makers comparable to what what a new ("unaged") Strad or del Gesu would have been?

 

[LabelKing]

What about 19th century violins?

Bows are another interesting area.

 

[Violinist]

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[Violinist]

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[Concordia]

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

Functionally, why is that? Were they such unworldly craftsmen that even the best of the living makers can't match them? Is part of it that age itself, at least if you start with a certain quality of instrument, will enhance tonality and can't be replicated artificially? If that's the case, are the best violins turned out by contemporary makers comparable to what what a new ("unaged") Strad or del Gesu would have been?

If we knew that, every professional violinist (or serious student) would play on a Strad-level instrument that cost them $20,000.

 

[Concordia]

Originally Posted by Violinist

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I haven't found a modern violin that could be a genuine Strad (one of the good ones), but there's more than enough which come close enough to violins in the 500k+ range.

I've been out of the market for too long. Whose work do you most like in this bracket?

 

[Violinist]

Originally Posted by Concordia

I've been out of the market for too long. Whose work do you most like in this bracket?

500k or contemporary instruments?

 

[Concordia]

Originally Posted by Violinist

500k or contemporary instruments?

Contemporary. I know who made the good expensive instruments. Forget Savile Row. Tell me about the back streets of Hong Kong.

 

[Violinist]

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[Concordia]

Thanks. I didn't know of any of the younger guys, and Greiner's work is something I've only heard from the balcony when Tetzlaff comes to town.

Do you also know Mike Darnton of Chicago? Good Strad and del Gesu copies-- and he's one of a very few makers who's spent quality time with the Cannone.

 

[Violinist]

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