Hello to all, i am Joanne, i am working my way to achieving grade 1 violin
I haven't tried the Vivace. I have a set of the old Alliance on one fiddle and Crystals on a couple of others. They all work fine for me.
Hello Lyle, thank you for your message, my teacher has the Corelli Crystal strings on his violin, but he says he likes the sound of the Vivace better, his fiddle is 100 years old, mine is a recent purchase, a Stentor Conservatoire, before i changed my strings, i had Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Gold strings on my fiddle/violin, the Corelli Vivace are a much better sounding string, more smoother, the Pirastro strings were loud and harsh, even with the mute in place!
I'm a fan of the new Cantiga mediums.
The G and D are the best I have had on my violin, which is a powerful and well balanced modern that tends to prefer medium tension strings such as Dominants.
The A and E are nice too, though not my own preference.
I have tried some time ago the Alliance Vivace medium and I liked them,less the A ,I founded it not enough tension.
I have now tried the heavy tension ,G was good,D hasnt good response,A is good and with good balance with E Gold Label string.
I have ordered now the Cantiga,I am excited to try them!I'll compare the G with PI..They have said that is even better?The A what tension has?
I forgot to tell you that I have had tried also before some years the crystal Corelli,I was finding it easy to play with them..curiosly after I listened to my record in a studio, the sound was'nt good and I was surprised..When I was playing I din't find that it wasnt sound good..
Maybe it was the recording...I didnt try them again since...Though they are so cheap!!On Gostrings you may find them.
I have used the Corelli Alliance for a lot of years. I like them or I wouldn't use them obviously. I have wondered why they do not seem to be very popular.
A few years ago (before the Vivace variant) they had the highest list price of all common strings. I got mine on sale and, as I said, have found nothing objectionable about them. The only other person I know who had tried them, though, did not like them but did not remember why. Of interest to me, they are one of only two or three brands of synthetic strings that have been break-free, and I have a lot of fiddles with many brands of strings. (One of the others that haven't broken is the Crystal set.)
I am finding the Corelli Crystals "warm" but effectively with the brilliance filtered out - as opposed to having the same brilliance with and emphasis on warmth. Compared to Tonica/Dom/Zyex these strings sound a little bit like a gauze has been placed on the violin. How do the Vivace/Contiga compare in this regard? Anyone else have the same impressions?
I have only tried Alliance-Vivace (medium) on my viola.
I found them very tense and curiously dull, but other violas seem to fare better.
What G string is darkest, what e string is brightest, and what D is most in between the Russian A and the darkest G?
I want that on a violin. Sounds exciting.
Oliv G
Passione D
Jargar Forte E
After wanting to try these for some time and finding only a single Youtube demo on a new Yita violin, as well as all the threads on Vcom hijacked by Cantiga reviews lol (which I have yet to try), I bought a set and will resurrect this thread, as these are curious strings that possess a pretty unique spread of qualities some might find useful.
First, they are loud. Between maybe Dominants and Pirazzis. They have a very clear pitch - no string fuzz at all - while creating a fairly complex, full-bodied sound. They are malleable in both volume and texture (by both pressure and speed). They are tense under the finger but not terribly so and are very, very responsive. Like, telepathic.
Their piece de resistance (or dealbreaker for some others) however, is that they cut out high overtones to some extent, without being overly warm overall. For some instruments and for those who have had to utilize very warm and clean sets like Pro Artes to avoid some unpleasant shrillness, this might be a blessing. These are a neutral-warm string that effectively EQ out a fine section of its high frequency range without dragging the set into the mud. They're much closer to Dominants overall than Crystals or Pro Artes.
So with these qualities (clear intonation, good modulation/articulation, lightning response, muted high frequencies), I see them facilitating students who are honing all these techniques and on bright strident instruments, while creating a complex sound unlike student strings. But they're also priced like Dominants and not like student strings. Bummer.
Good luck!
Thanks for a nice review, Kevin!
Are you using Medium, or Medium-Light gauge?
http://www.savarez.com/corelli-alliance-vivace-medium-light-800ml-violin
Yes, thanks Kevin!
These are a medium gauge, but they're thick.
For those who have tried both the Corelli Alliance Vivace Violin Strings AND the Cantiga strings, what are the differences? I see the Cantigas seem approximately $20 cheaper.
I've been wondering the same thing...
I've been wondering the same thing...
On my viola, Cantiga are a little brighter than Alliance, which can permit more different shades of tone. I still find them both tense and a little lacking in colour (I use Tonica at present.)
Kevin, compare their tension with that of Dominant strings. I bet they are more tense! Next time go with light version.
Definitely more tense than Dominants. Closer to new formula Zyex. Not unbearable or even noticeable until I went back to an instrument with Dominants on it.
I might try a med-light tension some time, but some of that punch might vanish, and anyway I really want on that Cantiga train right now haha. My instrument has great high overtones and these don't really bring them out, which I believe is more fundamental chemistry than tension.
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March 16, 2014 at 08:21 PM · I've tried the new cantiga hard on my vuillaume violin and they sounded edgy and metallic. We couldn't adjust it to any good result with my luthier.
I took then off and put pirazzi on with a gold(silver) gold Pirazzi and adjusted it and now sounds great. The cantiga hard I put on my modern Stepan Soultanian violin 2002 and they suit it fine.
I hope my experience with them is of help to you.