I find a certain irony in the idea that some audiophiles who accept the fact that sometimes classic gear and "antiquated" music storage media have (for quantifiable and unquantifiable reasons) special and desirable sonic qualities....the magic, should be so disbelieving of the idea that an old rare violin can be found to have, by a given player, special qualities that elude modern instruments. We are all also familiar with the futility of the infamous double-blind tests of gear.
Raul, with respect, I will say it again:
**** This kind of test proves very little other than the fact that, yes, there are good modern instruments being crafted today. ****
This type of test has been done many times previously in an attempt to debunk the idea that many players find unique and very desirable qualities in the old Italian instruments. Aside from the built-in bias that is often present in these tests and in the reporting of the methadology and results there are other issues that are often not reported. One example: valuable Cremonese instruments which are loaned by collectors (or players) for conducting these tests almost without exception are loaned with certain preconditions. Specifically, they are not to be altered in any way. Bridges cannot be adjusted, strings cannot be changed; iow, they cannot be optimized. The ramifications of this should be obvious. As I pointed out previously, a player needs to live with an instrument for a substantial amount of time, not just minutes or an hour, in order to understand the instrument. The fact that it is not "practical" to perform these tests over extended periods of time does not invalidate the relevance of this reality. Moreover, a player’s "mood" has absolutely nothing to do with any of this. A world class player has developed a very keen sense of what qualities he is looking for in an instrument and his "mood" will not sway this in any way. Additionally, a musical instrument is not like a piece of audio equipment that, as you say, "performs" better than another. It may be better for one player and not for another depending on what qualities that player is looking for. Additionally, it needs to be taken into consideration whether the player is a soloist, chamber musician or orchestral player; they each have different requirements of an instrument and will look for different qualities in the instrument.
There is no doubt that there are very fine instruments being made today, but the idea that many world class players choose to play and incur the expense of an old Cremonese instrument simply because of its cache or status symbol value is absurd. A world-class player seeks an instrument that will allow him to fully express himself musically. He wants the instrument that is best for him, period; whether it’s new or old. The fact still remains that some players find unique qualities in some of these old instruments that they can’t find in modern instruments and are willling to pay whatever is necessary for that last bit of potential in musical expression.
I have spoken to musician colleagues (string players) about this issue and they agree with the above practically without exception. Some of these old instruments simply have "the magic". Some of these players are members of an East Coast symphony orchestra that I play with regularly and that gained a lot of attention and notoriety a few years ago for, besides being a fine orchestra, buying a collection of 30 (!) rare string instruments including 12 (!) Stradivari. The difference in the sound of the string section as a result of having these instruments in the section was very obvious both in beauty of tone and musical vitality. A result of "pride of ownership" only? I seriously doubt it.
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