instruments sounded better than
modern ones,” he says.
That prompted Curtin and
Claudia Fritz, who studies psy-
cho acoustics at the Sorbonne in
Paris, to conduct a double- blind
study. In 2010, 21 soloists meet-
ing in Indianap olis for an international competition donned
dark welding goggles, and each played two Stradivariuses, a
Guarneri, and three modern violins. Thirteen of them preferred
new instruments, and seven liked one of the Strads least of all.
The two researchers drew criticism for their methods, which
included holding the test in a hotel room. So the pair ran a more
rigorous study in Paris in 2012 involving six violins crafted by
Italian masters (five of them Strads) and six by present-day
luthiers. They used new instruments that were weathered
to appear old, and the 10 professional soloists once again
wore goggles. Each used their own bow while playing during
75- minute sessions in a rehearsal space and a small concert
hall. Six preferred the sound of the modern models. On aver-
age, the musicians favored the playability, articulation, and
projection of contemporary violins, and none could identify the
Strads with better than coin-toss accuracy. “We have yet to findthat players can discern old from new,” Curtin says.
That, of course, does not diminish the quality of
Stradivari’s masterpieces, or his contributions to the
art of making violins. “I don’t have one whit less rever-
ence for his work,” Curtin says. “I am challenging the
assumption that they are necessarily better-sounding
than modern instruments.”The Conductor
Audio engineer
Thomas Koritke re-
corded 8 terabytes
of data during a
project that took
five weeks.THE SONG OF THE IMMORTAL VIOLIN“When you look at
museums all over the
world, digitizing their
content is standard,” says
audio engineer Thomas
Koritke. “Why not do
that with instruments?”
(CONTINUED ON P. 115)ISA
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