So Stradivarius violins just aren't that great? And "research Let's just say there is some hyperbole going around. When it came to preference, six violinists preferred new violins and four preferred old ones. The players did not do better than the roll of dice during a seven-minute guessing test at the end, in determining which violins were old and which were new.
This experiment followed a experiment , which took place at that year's International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. The the new conclusions published Monday are based on a comparison of a total of five Stradivari violins to five modern-made violins, over two separate sound tests, one in Paris and one in New York. The conclusion: the moderns were louder, and both audience and players liked louder better in these circumstances.
Violins were compared in pairs always paired old-modern , with two soloists playing to second excerpts. Audience members were asked to rate the projection of each pair, and they tended to rate the modern violins as being louder. Additionally, in the Paris test, which had 55 listeners, audience members were also asked to determine if violins were old or new, and they guessed mostly inaccurately -- of the guesses were correct -- about 45 percent.
In the New York test, which had 82 listeners, preference was asked, and both players and audience said they preferred the sound of the moderns. The louder the violin, the more people liked it. The violin determined by consensus and scientific measurement to be the loudest was a modern violin, which was also deemed loudest under the ear, by players.
Find the full study here. The violins for the Paris test were selected from a pool of nine old Italian and 15 modern violins provided by dealers, collectors, players and makers. Only two of the violins from the Paris Experiment, one Strad and one modern, were still available for the second sound test in New York, which took place in during Mondomusica. So for the NY experiment, the two additional modern violins were chosen by a preselection process from 15 violins submitted by makers; while the two additional Strads were "the only ones made available to us at the time," according to the study.
