Violoncello da spalla for Sergey Malov

THE HAGUE -- August 10, 2011, I have carried out the last adjustments to the sound and setup of my 70th instrument - the 10th violoncello da spalla made for Sergey Malov - violinist, violist and now also a violoncellist da spalla. He will play this instrument at Nikkei's Muse Salon, International Mozart Competition Winners Concert 2011 in Japan on the 21st of September 2011. In the modern jargon,
it will be varnished in the few following days. In the old jargon, it will be tempered with varnish; the varnish will be incorporated into the whole until it becomes a unity. That is why I take into  consideration all parts of an instrument from the very beginning, starting with its sound and ending with the varnish, even though all I might have at that stage of work is a few chunks of raw wood.

You can find more information on this instrument in my Galpin Society Journal Article which, with the kind permission from the editor, can be downloaded from this website. The article was written a few years ago however it does still contain a lot of new information for violinists, violists and cellists alike. Written for experts, the article may seem intimidating to an untrained reader. In short: a lot of baroque cello repertoire can be performed on such or similar instrument and, perhaps, it might soon be heard in romantic and contemporary music.

Like all other instruments from the Badiarov Violins studio this instrument too is not a copy. It is an original. Violin-making is art - or craft, whatever one prefers to call it - and for me it is inseparable from  life itself. The life, the nature and the culture - at least, the Historically Inspired approach to the latter - offer a lot more ideas and inspiration than antique instruments alone do, still less - posters of those instruments - the basis of modern violin-making. Nope, each instrument is a story, much like a good painting, sculpture, concert. Apart from purely aesthetic special features and character, however this model includes all necessary tiny details: exacting proportions, refined shapes of the neck, fingerboard, tailpiece, curvature of the bridge, correct string pressure and response etc etc etc.

N.B. Recorded with equipment great for all things other than sound and video hence the dreadful quality. Indeed, come to listen this instrument in concerts by Sergey!