Strad a tad too pricey? New will do as well

The name Stradivarius has become a byword for quality and prestige, with string instruments crafted by the Italian family frequently selling for more than R175-million.

Violinists often claim that old Italian models are better at carrying over a full orchestra in a large hall. But a new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that today's concert audiences actually prefer the sound of newer instruments.

Claudia Fritz, a violin acoustics expert at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, asked seven leading soloists to play at concert halls in the French capital and New York, in a blind test in which neither the performers nor the audience knew which instrument was being played.

Old violins included two by Guarneri del Gesù (both made after 1740), six by Stradivari and one by another well-known 18th-century Italian master.

The soloists included Russian-born Ilya Kaler, the only violinist to win gold medals at three of the world's most prestigious music competitions. Susanne Hou, who has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, took part, together with Giora Schmidt, the American/Israeli violinist.

"A belief in the near-miraculous qualities of old Italian violins has preoccupied the violin world for centuries," said Fritz.

"But the results are unambiguous: listeners preferred new violins over old by a significant margin. It may be that recent generations of violin makers have closed the gap between old and new or it may be that the gap was never so wide as commonly believed."

Hou has said she prefers old violins because they "resonate with the sound of each player" over the centuries. "I would absolutely buy a new instrument, but for a later generation. They need to be broken in," she said.

However, Christian Lloyd, from The Strad magazine, said: "There's a sense of history in playing a Stradivari. The fact that you're performing on an instrument that's been played by countless violinists, most likely the great soloists of their day, adds a feeling of patrimony that spurs you to play like you've never played before.

"The reason why Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù and Amati instruments command such prices is that they are more than mere musical instruments - they are works of art, just as much as a Monet, a Renoir or a Van Gogh."

The Stradivari family worked in Cremona between 1644 and 1737 and also crafted cellos, guitars, violas and harps.

Antonio Stradivari is considered to be the most distinguished craftsman of the violin and it is estimated that about 500 of the instruments he made survive.

Many theories have been put forward to account for the "superior" sound quality of Stradivari, including suggestions they were made from dense Alpine spruce trees that grew in the Ice Age, or wood affected by reduced solar activity in the 17th century. However, there is little difference in the densities in the wood of modern and classical violins. The Cambridge Companion to the Violin says the structure of a Stradivarius is the important feature, noting the flatter shape.

- ©The Daily Telegraph