Soloist evaluations of six Old Italian and six new violins.
Many researchers have sought explanations for the purported tonal superiority of Old Italian violins by investigating varnish and wood properties, plate tuning systems, and the spectral balance of the radiated sound. Nevertheless, the fundamental premise of tonal superiority has been investigated scientifically only once very recently, and results showed a general preference for new violins and that players were unable to reliably distinguish new violins from old. The study was, however, relatively small in terms of the number of violins tested (six), the time allotted to each player (an hour), and the size of the test space (a hotel room). In this study, 10 renowned soloists each blind-tested six Old Italian violins (including five by Stradivari) and six new during two 75-min sessions--the first in a rehearsal room, the second in a 300-seat concert hall. When asked to choose a violin to replace their own for a hypothetical concert tour, 6 of the 10 soloists chose a new instrument. A single new violin was easily the most-preferred of the 12. On average, soloists rated their favorite new violins more highly than their favorite old for playability, articulation, and projection, and at least equal to old in terms of timbre. Soloists failed to distinguish new from old at better than chance levels. These results confirm and extend those of the earlier study and present a striking challenge to near-canonical beliefs about Old Italian violins.
Lutheries-Acoustique-Musique, Institut Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7190, Sorbonne Universités - UPMC Univ Paris 06 / Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 75005 Paris, France; claudia.fritz@upmc.fr.
Claudia
C
Fritz
Joseph Curtin Studios, Ann Arbor, MI 48103;
Joseph
J
Curtin
Lutheries-Acoustique-Musique, Institut Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7190, Sorbonne Universités - UPMC Univ Paris 06 / Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 75005 Paris, France;
Jacques
J
Poitevineau
Prima La Musica, 94300 Vincennes, France;
Hugues
H
Borsarello
Lutheries-Acoustique-Musique, Institut Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7190, Sorbonne Universités - UPMC Univ Paris 06 / Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 75005 Paris, France;
Indiana
I
Wollman
D'Addario and Company, Farmingdale, NY 11735; and.
Fan-Chia
FC
Tao
Société par Actions Simplifiées Ghasarossian, 67300 Schiltigheim, France.
Thierry
T
Ghasarossian
music; perception; subjective evaluation