Made with all-renewable materials, this violin from 1721 reflects a time of magnificent culture – a global gathering from before the climate crisis
, has been playing what he calls “pretty athletic music” on a violin made in 1721. I’ve heard him play all kinds of compositions on it, from the galloping notes of Orange Blossom Special to the minimalism of Terry Riley and even the occasional bit of Bach. The instrument made by Carlo Giuseppe Testore in Milan has survived three centuries, providing music for countless audiences, and can be heard on more than 60 Kronos albums.
The sheer thrift of an instrument lasting so long said to me that maybe you could have magnificent culture with material modesty, that the world before all our fossil fuel extraction and burning could be plenty elegant, and maybe that the world we need to make in response to climate change can feel like one of abundance, not austerity.
David’s violin is clearly a working instrument – its materials are themselves a sort of global gathering One bow could bring together the Arctic and the tropics, and if it was inset with ivory, abalone, or mother of pearl, as many are, also incorporate materials from the ocean or another continent. A violin with ebony, ivory and a pernambuco bow is a relic of the colonialism in which Europe enriched itself with materials from other continents, but it is also an all-renewable-materials artefact.Mostly, a violin is trees.
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