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Once again, the Strads don't measure up

I'm sure some Asylum members remember the era when French wine was just accepted as being superior -- that wines made in the U.S. and other countries could not achieve the same level of greatness of French wines. But other countries now produce wines that are widely accepted as excellent and the equal of French wines. And it all started with a blind tasting that pitted U.S. wines against French wines, in which French judges picked some of the American wines over their own. (If you haven't see the movie "Bottle Shock," it's a fun retelling of the story.)

In the world of music, it's just accepted that Stradivarius and other Cremona instrument makers of the 1600-1700s built the greatest stringed instruments ever made -- instruments that have never been equaled.

But research is beginning to peck away at the lofty status of the old Italians. Blind studies that have experienced soloists playing old Italians and modern instruments, but not knowing what instrument is in their hands while playing, in smaller settings and in auditorium-sized venues, have yielded some interesting results.

Although the soloists can certainly hear the differences between instruments, say to distinguish the sound of violin 1 vs violin 5, they were not able to detect which of the instruments they were hearing were old Italians vs modern ones. And they couldn't tell as they played them blind. They were auditioning the instruments as for their next tour and asked, in the end, to not only rate the instruments, but to select the one that they would want to use on their tour. They chose modern instruments as superior 3-2, not knowing, of course, whether the instrument they chose was an old Italian or a newer one, only that it was the one they liked best.

It's just one study, the second of its kind. (The previous one revealed the same results, but was not as well designed as this one.)

In our little corner of the world, in which there are strong feelings about blind auditioning of equipment, there is bound to be knee-jerk criticisms of any studies that dare question the belief in the superiority of old Italian violins. But one must wonder whether we are seeing the beginning of a new story that will unfold in coming years, in which the finest of modern violins are finally accepted as the equal of those multi-million dollar old instruments, much as New World wines have come to be regarded as the equal of those from France.

One thing is probably true, though. If experienced soloists cannot tell an old Italian from a modern violin, the audience certainly will not know the difference. That's good news for young musicians who cannot afford old Italian instruments. It may not be such good news for those people who have invested many millions buying those old instruments, who have the most to lose if the world ever accepts that a modern violin can sound just as good as a Strad.

Read the Article Here


"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)



Edits: 04/09/14

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Topic - Once again, the Strads don't measure up - Amphissa 23:58:27 04/08/14 (17)

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