<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1264" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#800000>Nigel Kennedy owns and plays a = 1736 Guarneri violin. I saw him play a bunch of Bach on this violin. I'm no violin = expert, but it did indeed sound very sweet.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#800000></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#800000>From </FONT><A href="http://www.nigelkennedy.com/"><FONT face=Arial color=#800000>http://www.nigelkennedy.com/</FONT></A><FONT = face=Arial color=#800000> & click on "Kennedy's violins".</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#800000></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"The Cathedrale", the Stradivarius = Nigel used to play, wasn't his, but fortunately, by the time he really wanted a violin = of his own, somewhere in the States this other violin popped up ...... = </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"The American fiddle proved to be a = Guarneri. These violins are not as much publicised, but even more exciting. Giuseppe = Guarneri del Gesu was a contemporary of Stradivari and created his beautiful = pieces in Cremona, Italy. The choice between these two distinguished maker is a = matter of personal taste but most of the players I admire have found it necessary = to move on to a Guarneri: Heifetz, Stern, Kreisler and Zukermann all belong to = the Guarneri club. This particular example, the Lafont, was called after its = first owner in 1736 and was considered good enough to take on Paganini in a = playing contest, which Lafont lost but which caused Paganini to claim that the = Lafont's sound quality was superior to his own. In 1880 it came into the hands of = Adolf Brodsky, and has the distinction of being used by Brodsky on 4 December = 1881 to premiere Tchaikovsky's great violin concerto. This particular violin was = apparantly fabulous and, somehow, pressure was brought to bear and it = was flown to my Oslo concert in 1990. It was everything they had said and more - = the tone qualities were astonishing and it sounded far more sophisticated. It was = even a slimmer instrument than the Strad, and felt more comfortable. The = trouble was that it was even more than the Strad! Grief on grief: having heard just = how much better the Guarneri sounded, the Cathedrale was never going to feel more = than second best. </FONT> <P><FONT face=Arial size=2>In a fast-moving chain of events = literally unimaginable a year before, I bought the Strad and immediately traded it = towards the Guarneri. It was a supreme moment for me: simce I was five years old = I had been playing violin, I had struggled and achieved most of the = conventional highpoints, and yet it took until that moment to be able to curl my = fingers around the neck of a top-quality fiddle and call it mine." </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial color=#800000>I'll refrain from commenting on = the Steinway remark.    ;-)</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial color=#800000>Let's just say I don't find it = overly surprising that there might be another violin or two out there that is = on a similar level or even preferred by some violinists other than the one = that happens to be the household name violin. Perhaps there are some = parallels in the violin and piano world? I wonder if there is any common = bloodline among the marketing directors of Steinway and Stradivarius? (Oops, did I = just comment? Nope, that was a question. Whew!)</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial color=#800000>Terry Farrell</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=2>> Wondering if anyone out there has = been fortunate enough to have heard<BR>> a Strad. live, and close-up, and could = describe the differences in sound<BR>> quality. Some<BR>> years ago while I was = watching Johnny Carson, he had a young fellow,<BR>> virtuoso,<BR>> = violinist perform on his show. When sitting with Johnny, the = Strad.<BR>> subject came up.<BR>> He didn't play one himself and suggested that = not all great violinists<BR>> preferred a<BR>> Strad; but some other fine = violin. I was quite taken aback at this,<BR>> because I assumed<BR>> that = it would be preferred by all great musicians. </FONT></P> <P>Carl / Winnipeg.</P></DIV></BODY></HTML>