Review: Larsen 'Il Cannone' Soloist Violin Strings

October 4, 2024, 5:04 PM · Over the summer Violinist.com received several sets of Larsen's 'Il Cannone Soloist' Violin strings for review. We distributed them to some of our Violinist.com members across the country - and I also tried them myself, to offer some feedback on the newest versions of these strings.

'Il Cannone' strings were first introduced in 2017 by the Denmark-based Larsen Strings company, and in the last year a few new versions have come out, including "Il Cannone Soloist - Direct and Focused" and "Il Cannone Soloist with Warm and Broad A." I tried the "Soloist Direct and Focused" strings, as did Virginia-based teacher, performer and frequent V.com contributor Claire Allen. Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concertmaster William Shaub tried the "Soloist with Warm and Broad A" strings. (Here is Larsen's sound map chart, so you can see how the company itself characterizes them.)

In both cases, the strings are named after the 1743 "Il Cannone" Guarneri del Gesù violin played by the early 19th-century Italian virtuoso Niccolo Paganini. That violin remains the stuff of legends - owned by the city of Genoa, Italy and housed in a museum, it is played just once a month by a curator and lent on a rare basis to choice violinists. Paganini himself called it his "cannon violin" because of its powerful, even explosive sound.

I will say that the "Il Cannone" strings are aptly named - all reviewers agreed that these strings pack "power"!

The "Il Cannone Soloist" violin string sets are priced around $90 to $100, putting them in a comparable price range to Evah Pirazzis, Obligatos, Perpetuals, Infelds and Rondos. In other words they are high-end, but not the very-highest-end, in terms of price.

Here are our reviews:

Il Cannone Soloist "Direct and Focused" Violin String Set

I strung my Gagliano violin with the "Il Cannone Direct & Focused Soloist" strings in early September, and as I changed my strings I noticed something not related to sound but still important: the strings were very well packaged. Each string came in a well-sealed paper envelope, then additionally wrapped in plastic. To me this speaks to an effort to keep them well-preserved for the player. The ball was easy to get off for my loop E, and also it was easy to remove the E protector if I wanted to - I elected to keep it on. The strings were stretchy and easy to put on - they were cooperative in the changing process.

Immediately I noticed a sound that was very clear and pitch-true. The sound is powerful, ringy and uncomplicated. I believe there are fewer overtones, and thus more "focus." Playing solo Bach, the directness of these strings helped in practicing intonation issues: I heard the pitch very precisely and felt I could calibrate it more closely.

I found these to be bright strings, and they have stayed that way. I normally play on Pirastro's Obligato strings, and I did miss that warmth. At the same time, I could see the merits of a brighter string. I practiced Butterfly Lovers Concerto - which has all kinds of special effects, with the violin sometimes imitating an erhu or other Chinese instruments. The strings worked well in bringing out these effects.

The "Il Cannone" strings have retained their power over the month, and right now I'm putting them through an orchestra concert. They sound best when I lighten up on the bow - and I'm not always successful here. For example, playing the rather heavy introduction in Beethoven's "Egmont" overture, I'm sometimes finding it hard to back off enough to optimize the sound for these strings. At the same time, the brightness has not made me "stick out" uncomfortably in the section.

Claire Allen, who also tried the "Direct and Focused" version, said that "on first impression, I found the 'Il Cannone' Soloist strings to be bright and clear, pretty comparable to my Evah Golds but not quite as warm. After a few weeks, my view remained pretty similar: they’re a nice string with a resonant sound, but coming from the Evah Golds I had on my instrument before, they are not quite as warm. I can see where they could be a nice step-up for a student instrument or even a first step-up from Dominants. The Larsens are also super responsive. Over all they have nice power and responsiveness, but not as much color or warmth as I’d like."

Il Cannone Soloist with "Warm and Broad A" Violin String Set

William Shaub, concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, tested the "Il Cannone Soloist with Warm and Broad A" violin string set. While both Claire and I were missing that warmth, the "Warm and Broad A" seemed to tip things to the warm side in this set.

"I found the Larsen 'Il Cannone' Soloist strings to be high quality, extraordinarily warm, and very powerful," Shaub said. "They tend to play almost exclusively in that region, at least out of the box. If you are looking for something with 'bright' overtones, or more specifically overtones that reach behind your ear with the sunshine of a 1715 Stradivarius or perhaps a fine Ruggieri, these strings do not offer that."

"One observation of note: With my instrument, I paired the following bows with these Larsens: a 64 gram E. A. Ouchard and a 60 gram Thomassin. With the Ouchard, I felt the bow's heft with these strings was just too much, slightly choking off the resonance. The opposite was true with the lighter Thomassin, which allowed the sound to open up and the vibrato to blossom a bit more."

"With these strings, if you like them with your equipment, bow speed is your answer," he said.

"I think some credit where credit is due needs to be assigned here, at least Larsen tried to do something different than what is currently out there. 'Warm and broad' is most definitely not false advertising. On my violin, the closest comparison to these would be PI's (purples), with a Pirazzi Gold E. Normally, I use Vision Solos with a Dominant G."

Shaub said that his favorite thing about the strings is their projection, also giving them high marks for core sound, "overall health of sound," off-string clarity, evenness across strings and value for the money. He was less impressed with the strings' dynamic range and colors, and he felt that they would be better for solo playing than for chamber playing or orchestral auditions.

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As always, different strings work well on different violins, so I hope this gives you enough of an overview to help you consider if this powerful string is for you, and if so, which version would work best on your violin. Happy practicing!

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Replies

Andrew Holland

October 4, 2024 at 11:19 PM · Larsen doesn't actually seem to show a "Warm and Broad" violin set on their site, just a "Warm and Broad" A.

Laurie Niles

October 5, 2024 at 12:59 AM · Andrew you are right, it's either "Direct and Focused" or ""Soloist with Warm and Broad A."

Paul Deck

October 6, 2024 at 12:22 PM · I've tried Larsen Tzigane, Rondo, Evah Pirazzi, but I keep coming back to Vision Solo. The Larsens were too brassy, so when I saw the word "bright" in the review, these are not for me.

Andrew Victor

October 11, 2024 at 02:13 PM · I put Larsen Il Cannone Soloist strings on one of my violins for the first time a few weeks ago. I was changing strings of all 4 of my fiddles to RONDOs for the first time but decided this particular instrument had been pretty great with every stringing it has had in the 50 years since I bought it so I would try these higher tension strings that had remained boxed in my string drawer since I bought them before COVID. A vigorous vibrato brings out the supportive overtones and I love the strong direct sound I hear from them.

I think

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Review: Larsen 'Il Cannone' Soloist Violin Strings

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