NPR

What did the beginning of time sound like? A new string quartet offers an impression

Abrasive, intense and about to erupt at any moment. So begins Flow, a new piece by Nokuthula Ngwenyama for the Takács Quartet. Coaxing peculiar sounds out of centuries-old string instruments, the ...
PBS

The Violin in the String Family of the Orchestra

Watch how the violin and string instruments make varieties of sound and music. Professor Richard Church, conductor of the University of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra, introduces the violin and other ...
The Hindu

How does the material of a string affect an instrument’s sound?

The purpose of a string in a string instrument is to vibrate and produce sounds. How it vibrates is decided by its mass per unit length, its stiffness, and how well it allows vibrations to flow ...
NPR

A music director goes public with a secret stash of private instruments

Crisp, warm, responsive. The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is on a journey to meet these benchmarks under the baton of music director Gianandrea Noseda. One of the ways in which he's shaping a new ...
Gramophone

In search of a perfect string quartet sound, with the Carducci Quartet

How do a string quartet pursue their dream of the ideal ensemble sound? James Jolly caught up with the Carducci Quartet to learn about how they went about it I’ve never given a lot of thought as to ...