Audiences prefer ‘new’ sound, study finds
LONDON • The name Stradivarius has become a byword for quality and prestige, with string instruments crafted by the Italian family frequently selling for more than US$17 million.
Violinists often claim that old Italian models are better at carrying over a full orchestra in a large hall, with U.S. concertmaster Frank Almond, who plays a Stradivarius, arguing that newer models “do not carry past the sixth row”.
Likewise, the British cellist Steven Isserlis, who also plays one, said: “A famous and curious feature of Stradivarius instruments is that their tone seems to increase with distance.”
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.
Prof 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 where neither the performers nor the audience knew which instrument was being played.
Old violins included two by Guarneri del Gesu (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 — the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Sibelius and the Paganini. Susanne Hou, who has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, took part, together with Giora Schmidt, the American/Israeli violinist.
On every occasion, the public preferred music played on newer violins.
“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 found that new violins projected significantly better than those by Stradivari.
“Moreover, 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.”