Stradivarius made c. 10 violas. 8 remain and only 2 are playable. One of these, the "Archinto viola", is coming out of a museum to be played at the Proms in the Tippett triple concerto in 2 weeks. It's the first time it's been played in nearly 10 years.
The podcast features Philip Dukes, Britain's top concert viola player, who will be one of the three soloists in the piece at the Royal Albert Hall. It compares the sound of the Strad with that of his own viola, a modern Japanese/American instrument and allows listeners to try to tell the difference. Peter Kingston reports. (13mins 33s)
The Stradivarius actually sounds like it has more body. Amazing.