We have been informed of the death, aged 63, of Stuart Gordon, a Geordie violinist who toured and recorded with Peter Gabriel, Alison Moyet, XTC and the Beach Boys.

In his heyday, we read, Stuart ‘perfected the method of recording multiple takes to create a string section, using slight variations in tuning and several different instruments to create the sense of more than one player.’

Recording music for video games is what keeps Abbey Road open and British orchestras in spare change since the collapse of the classical record industry. The Brits have owned this business for a decade.

But others are now muscling in on the act.  Munich and Prague are cheap and popular recording venues for film music.

And here comes Stockholm.

Stockholm? The most rigid, least entrepreneurial of music systems? Yes, the Swedish model.

The Royal Stockholm Phil are on video with Final Fantasy VI. Watch them in full fig  here. Or just shut your eyes and listen below.

The conductor is Andreas Hanson.

Daniel H. Chitwood of St Louis, Missouri, has conducted ‘an analysis of morphological evolution in the violin family, sampling the body shapes of over 9,000 instruments over 400 years of history.’ He’s not afraid to name and shame, picking out ‘luthiers who likely copied the outlines of their instruments from others’.

Every important maker had his own pattern, or ‘cluster’, revealed here.

Antonio Stradivari remains, however, the greatest innovator:

The question arises, how did he succeed in effecting, year after year, the continual and ever-varying modifications of the curves of the outline? It is evident that he drew a fresh design, and made a new mould for each decided change of form, whether of large or small dimensions; but at the same time we think he probably had some simple plan which, by a slight alteration, permitted him to make use of the old mould while retaining a free hand to alter in a greater or less degree the curves, more especially those of the bouts and corners.

Read the full paper here.

Meet the Babywearing ensemble, a group where everyone – conductor included – comes wearing a baby in wraps.

Yes, it’s a commercial gimmick – ‘The project is the brainchild of Diana Rosenfield, founder of wrap selling site Wrap Your Baby,’ we’re told – but in an age of advanced equality in the orchestral workplace it has definite possibilities.

The drawbacks? Since you can’t play above pianissimo to avoid harming those delicate baby ears, the ensemble has to stay pretty small.

The pluses? You get to blame baby for fluffed notes.

Watch this all-new video for all new musician mums and dads.