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By Peter Somerford

A question for the ages

Does respecing the value of old instruments mean they should be played less oten? Luthiers, museum curators and foundaiontheads debate the age-old quesion

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A violin made for the exhibiion by Tim Duerinck

COURTESY TIM DUERINCK

A group of luthiers and academics in Belgium has called on musicians to consider playing on old instruments less frequently and intensively, so that they can be better preserved for future generations. Publishing their appeal to coincide with the Queen Elisabeth Competition for violin, which since 1997 has ofered its grand prize winner the loan of the 1708 ‘Huggins’ Stradivari for four years, luthiers Tim Duerinck and Pieter Goossens, along with two professors at the University of Ghent and the cellist Benjamin Glorieux, questioned whether the constant desire to play andthear such instruments has overtaken concerns for their preservation

Duerinck stresses thatthe and his colleagues are not calling for every old instrument to be placed in a museum: ‘We’re not saying that they all have to be put away and never played again. But we do want people to think about the condition these old instruments are in, and whether it’s responsible to keep playing some of them. Future generations should also have the chance tothear these instruments, and to make that possible we must think now about the issue of preservation.’

If silencing old instruments isn’t necessary, Duerinck says that we should at least think about playing them less, and consider whether we need to travel with them and expose them to accidental damage. ‘Compare old instruments with other species of great artistic and historical value, such as Old Master paintings,’the says. ‘hese works are sometimes shipped internationally for exhibitions, but this happens only occasionally and the paintings are very well protected. I don’t think the question of how we should preserve old instruments is raised enough, in comparison with the consideration we give to other art forms.’