I don't see how this is played, unless it is 'just' an electric violin with more , and different, amplifiers. Is that what it means Reiner?
Sounds interesting.. do you take it to mean that the 'boxes' are able to be altered whilst the performance is taking place and thus giving extra variation to the sounds perhaps? I wonder if it will sound something like a theramin?

The suggestion that classics will be played on it seems unlikely to me if the violinist has a Strad ! But very useful for modern music I would think.

A

So typical of 'old media' that they don't bother to include links to sites with more information. This looks very interesting but there are a lot of questions left unanswered.

I was going to practice the viola today.  I really was.  I had got its box out, and put it by the piano, ready to start after breakfast....

• the plumber came at 09:30, something about needing to change a leaky pipe in the flat below, please could I move all the furniture (including the piano) away from the wall, because he'd need to use a blow-torch.  Then he went away for an hour.
• He blow-torched for a bit, then went downstairs, then came back and did a bit more, and anyhow it was lunchtime when he finally went.
• Then I had to run an errand to lend someone fifty quid until after the New Year.
• And on the way back I remembered a New Year Present I hadn't bought yet, wasted an hour looking for something and still came back with nothing.
• And while I was in the shop the Moscow Philharmonia called, could I, please-please-please, translate the programme, programme- notes and biography of a lutenist for them?  When, oh, could you do it by 5pm?  Alright, by 6pm. Happy New Year!
• Then I finally had something to eat...
• Then I moved the furniture and piano back against the wall...
• Then I got the viola out, and broke the D-string because I was turning the wrong peg while tuning it
• ... and I haven't got a spare and the shops are shut.

Nearly as good as "the dog ate my homework", eh?   

But I have been to the shops this morning and treated my viola to a set of new strings for the New Year (the A-string was looking very manky, and the C-string was a cheap bodged replacement that barked a lot).  They are just bedding-in now, and should be ready for use tomorrow   It even sounds like a decent instrument now 

Ta, Strina!   The bow had a re-hair about 6 months ago, and since - ehem - I don't get a chance to play the instrument much, is still in excellent shape!   I'm really a rotten player, so I don't deserve such a nice instrument...  but as my piano-tuner says, the best incentive to play is when the instrument sounds lovely from the first moment you put your fingers down on it

I hope you're enjoying your viola today, Reiner!   

I'm trying to persuade myself (again) that practising will make me feel better about life.  I'm also trying to figure out what trio sonatas to buy as a new year's present to myself (besides Biber's Harmonia Artificiosa, which will be terribly expensive and very likely not get played much because of all the scordatura - any recommendations?).

Hi teepee,

The Brahms really needs to be with Horn.  I haven't heard it with viola, but you would need one heck of a player to balance with the piano and violin.  But then again, you need a pretty decent horn player too.  I'm sure you'll recognise it when you play it - it is extremely well known.

I love Haydn Trios - I'm doing one in A at the moment (Hoboken XV 18).  It's really jolly.  I don't often get to do them, as cellists usually complain about falling asleep, but when you are lucky its a real treat.

Tommo

Hi t-p, and thank you for your thoughts about life.  When things get confusing or difficult, I - like many - tear myself up with worry.  Of course what ends up happening is something I would never have imagined, so all my self-inflicted torment is pretty pointless.  Hard not to do, though.  It can sometimes be very difficult to trust that things will turn out for the best.  But thanks for your good wishes.

richard barrett - strangely enough I heard some Bertali on R3's Early Music Show today and was quite taken with it (although not as taken as I was with the Schnittelbach Ciaccona for violin and bc, which I can't find sheet music for anywhere on the internet grrr    ).  I'll look into that.  I don't have Purcell's 12 sonatas in 3 parts, only the later set - in an all-but-illegible photocopy of the all-but-illegible facsimile.  Lawes, Buxtehude, Uccellini - oh, how to decide.  All very good suggestions, though, for which I thank you.