Anyone of you seen the best violin with the most expensive price near you?

Dennis~~

Viohazard tried a Marcello Villa (contemporary Italian) violin that was way, way out of our budget range a couple of years ago. Viohazard was utterly swept away by the sound, and I was half wondering how to make the impossible possible when the shop owner rang to say that his assistant had unfortunately advised us the wrong price, and that the real price was much higher. I forget how much the "real" price was, but the "wrong" price was something like GBP4,500!

That was a couple of years ago, and I forget just how it sounded - I remember thinking that "like silk" was the perfect description at the time. The whole room vibrated with a burning, bright sound. Viohazard had already tried many violins at that point and liked several of them, but that was the first time he came out with expressions like "this or nothing", and didn't want to let an instrument out of his hands once he'd played it.

He couldn't bring himself to try any other violins for weeks after that disappointment, and wouldn't touch his own violin for a few days. Our local luthier eventually built him an instrument out of some old, unlabelled instruments. Viohazard calls it his "Old Mountain Man" because it's stubborn about releasing sound, but it has a strong sound when cooperative!

The most expensive violin near me (Oxford) is in the Ashmolean Museum. It is the Messiah Stadivarius. It is worth an estimated £10 million. It looks perfect and is very beautiful, but it is never used for performances, so I have no idea what it sounds like. There is a picture of it here.

My father was a keen amateur player and had a very nice Pique violin. I have no idea as to its value then or now but he was very proud of it. I don't really like to see instruments caged up in museum collections. They should be played, if at all possible.

Nor do I in general, but I can see the reason for it with the Messiah Stradivarius as it never was an instrument used for performing, so it still looks as though it is new. Some of the other very old violins/ violas in the Ashmolean look too fragile to use. Some of them are in the original condition (they have short fingerboards and the angle of the neck is different from that of modern instruments) and some of the violas are enormous. If they hadn't been kept safely away from performers, they would probably have been modified, or, in the case of the very large violas, cut down to a smaller size to make them playable by modern performers.

I went to Sothebys last week to view the instruments in their sale. I held and could've played (but was too shy...not good enough) several V expensive violins and bows. Menuhin's favourite Voirin was one bow I had in my hands, also a Gagliano violin which went for £48,000, and a wonderful Amati from 1675 which fetched £153,600. Certainly worth the trip.

Of course there was also that Strad I once played....

I wouldn't worry if I were you, Petrat. The glass-caged ones on show to the public at RAM in London do in fact get taken out and played from time to time by their performing professors.

...and also by some of their more "talented" students, especially those on post-grad performance diploma courses.

I've been lucky enough to stand within easy reach of Paganini's Il Cannone, when it was at the RAM in London earlier this year and I have played a Strad.....

What Strad what that, Jane?

A friend's grandmother used to own a Guarneri. If only I'd known the family 25 years ago <sigh>

A rather good one

A friend of mine has a violin worth about £100,000. I had a go on it recently and went to heaven.

Violinia

Wow! I've heard that in the museum in the Cremona, the curator takes out the violins and plays them everyday so keep the wood vibrating or something like that.

What a wonderful job!!!

*goes to rewrite CV to apply for curator's job in Cremona*

Have you?

Yes she has. And I was standing next to her admiring Il Cannone.

And I can vouch for the Strad bit too!

I meant the Strad! Not the glassed Cannone.

She has actually played on a Strad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You lucky thing! Clio Gould uses a Strad, too. Think it belongs to RAM.

I sometimes really have my doubts, is it really worth it to buy a violin that so expensive??

True - why not buy a house? Or a car? A violin that expensive can be stolen or can be damaged, so it's not worth it. I think average priced instrument is the best - it won't be too ad in quality and you don't have to worry about damaging it.


Wow.

The Cannone WASN'T GLASSED when I was next to it. Katyjay saw the Cannone, but wasn't with me on the occasion I'm referring to. Don't forget, I have access to opportunities that many non-professionals never have the chance to experience. It was being played in the RAM York Gate String Gallery and in rehearsal, by Peter Sheppard (RAM Reseach Fellow), in Dukes Hall.

Clio Gould does indeed play a Strad owned by the RAM. The "Rutson" Strad to be precise. Peter Sheppard also plays one of their Strad violins, the "Crespi".

My teacher has a Strad. I get so worried when he thrusts it at me and says "hold this" while he finds a pencil or something...his bows are also worth more than some houses.
The most expensive I've played on has been valued between £18,000 and £64,000 (a rather stupidly large price range) - a nice 7/8 Tononi which Benslow are lending me.

Pianist, it makes such a huge difference when you play a good violin. My previous one was worth maximum £500, and when I moved onto the Benslow instrument I sounded like a different player - my parents commented how they'd never thought I was very good before. Maybe the violin makes me sound better than I am, or maybe the old one made me sound worse, but now I find that I can pick up a lower quality violin and make it sound nice, having had experience on a good instrument. I have no idea why, probably because I know I am capable of a certain quality of sound and demand it of myself regardless of the instrument.

I think jane and amanda might want you to ask WHOSE strad it was?

I wasn't there but I've seen the photos... They looked real but you know, photoshop is a fabby thing.

We have plenty of witnesses....and have you seen the video footage that was taken at the same venue? Private recitals?? whatever next?!