A team of researchers at National Taiwan University believe that the unique sound of Stradivarius instruments may have arisen from a secret anti-woodworm treatment applied by the master-luthier.

Our analysis of Stradivari’s maples from three independent sources showed reproducible differences in chemical compositions compared with modern maples. Stradivari’s use of mineral-treated maples belonged to a forgotten tradition unknown to later violin makers. His maple also appeared to be transformed by aging and vibration, resulting in a unique composite material unavailable to modern makers. Modern chemical analyses may, therefore, improve our understanding of Stradivari’s unique craft and inspire the development of novel material approaches in instrument making.

Read on here.

 

A day after Moscow announced it was naming a square for Mstislav Rostropovich, St Petersburg unveiled a plaque to his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, on the apartment building where they once lived.

Both of their daughters attended the ceremony.

 

Nice to see them getting recognition after decades when they were whitewashed out of Russian music history. Nice to see the two cities competing for their legacy.

 

Fawzi Haimor has been named music director of the Württembergische Philharmonie after a unanimous vote by the musicians. He was selected from 18 auditioning candidates.

Local media have introduced him as ‘an American of Arab roots’ (Amerikaner mit arabischen Wurzeln).

Fawzi was, until recently, resident conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, learning the ropes.

Chicago born, he was raised in Saudi Arabia where his Jordanian-Lebanese father worked for the UN. Fawzi studied violin, conducting and neurobiology at Indiana University. He now lives with his young family in San Francisco and is working on his German. He is agented by K D Schmid out of Hannover.

 

Page Six of the New York Post – probably the most trusted showbiz source – says this morning that the Italian crooner has pulled out of the Trump inauguration under backlash pressure from fans. Bocelli met Trump twice in recent weeks to discuss the invitation.

It was Page Six that first told us that Bocelli had accepted. If we believed the first story, we’d better believe the second.

Nobody on any side is confirming or denying.

UPDATE: Now Trump denies he ever asked Bocelli to sing.

 

 

Meet Mr Arto Vainio, clarinet & bass clarinet player at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.

Arto says: ‘I am probably the only bass clarinet player in the world who has, within one week, played the complete Ring des Nibelungen and done 14 extremely demanding gym sessions.’


photos (c) Mike Siren

Here’s the evidence.

Not your regular orchestral player (3)

This may be the most people that have ever listened to Claude Debussy.

In a video from Lana Del Rey’s album Freak, the American singer segues without warning at 5:33 into the French master’s Clair de Lune. The piano piece plays while young women float underwater in diaphanous garments.

Just as Debussy intended, no doubt.

Watch.

Any idea who’s playing?

 

Léo Marjane, star of the collaborationist Radio Paris from 1941 to 1944, has died at an immense age.

Her greatest hit was Seule ce soir, written by Charles Trenet.

The Wiener Symphoniker have persuaded Philippe Jordan to sign on for a second term as music director until 2021.

The sought-after Swiss is also music director at the Opéra de Paris.

 

The Roman violinist and conductor Riccardo Minasi has been chosen to succeed Ivor Bolton in Salzburg, from the New Year.

Minasi, 38, has been principal conductor of il pomo d’oro and has worked in major opera houses.

The Latvian director Alvis Hermanis, whose Madama Butterfly opened La Scala’s season this month, had ended talks with Bayreuth over a 2018 Lohengrin, the festival announced today.

There seem to have been political differences.

His likely replacement is the Los Angeles-based Yuval Sharon.

One of my favourite stories of the late Sir Neville Marriner is of the time he was told that a refugee violinist had been taken off the Academy’s train during the night and was being held by police in Salzburg while his papers were checked.

As soon as the train reached Vienna, Neville called the Musikverein, where he was booked in for sold-out concerts, and told them not a note would be heard until the missing violinist was restored to his rightful seat. Hours later, he was.

Not every conductor shows such care for musicians, especially when he also the entrepreneur and owner of the touring company. Most impresarios would replace the missing musician without a second thought.

So hats off today to André Rieu, the popular Dutch violinist, who has called off a fully-booked UK tour after one of his musicians was felled by a heart attack and taken to hospital in critical condition. 

The shows could have gone on, but Rieu let humanity take precedence over entertainment values. He said: ‘Many of my orchestra members have been with me for more than 25 years. We are a family. We are deeply saddened by this tragic event and it is impossible for us to continue our tour as planned.’

Neville would have approved (and there’s no higher praise in my lexicon).