Cremona Show in San Jose

February 14, 2007 at 4:37 AM

Every year, the traveling show of Cremonese violins comes to Kamimotos, a local violin shop that I frequent. It's always a treat to go and try out the new violins, some hot out of the UV box. The most interesting violin was a gypsy violin by Massimo Ardoli.

This gem had all of the inlaid fancy work in the purfling, as well as etching in the scroll and ribs.

There was an embossed castle in the fingerboard end which made playing high positions tricky, and a fancy carved tailpiece. Even the pegs had little designs painted into them.

Okay, so maybe it's too gaudy for everyday orchestra venues. But definitely an interesting conversational piece.

I didn't have a lot of time to put all the violins through the paces, and some of the "stars" of former years were not available. The Riccardo Bergonzi had not arrived yet, and this year's Marco Nolli was disappointing, kind of pedestrian, almost too safe, whereas last year's had more of an edge.

But I did ask the salesman to point me to bright and responsive violins. Typically a lot of these violins are dark, syrupy and muted, and I didn't want to wade through all of them to find the few sparklers. Among the brighter ones were Roberto Cavagnoli, Stefano Conia, Rafaello Di Biaggio, Patrizio Orippi and Barbara Picinotti.

My favorite was Barbara Piccinotti, it was the most reponsive of the bunch. The tone was crisp and articulate, and the violin dances and is very alive. I tried not to be biased, because Barbara's violin was also my favorite from last year's show. But after cross-checking and comparing, my thumbs up goes to Piccinotti.

I don't know what it was with all of the brown and yellowish brown violins. Whether new looking or antiqued, they had that dumpster look. And since I'm not much into brown, striped and wavy grained violins, the best looking violin turned out to be one from 2002, Patrick Orippi, that had been hanging around the shop for the last 5 years. And it's a screaming red violin, lightly antiqued, with a flashy red flamed one-piece back.

Now if only I could find that together in one package: a fiery red flamed violin with a bright and penetrating sound that feels crisp and snappy. Ah, how's that for a hot violin.

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Cremona Show in San Jose

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