More top violinists are playing modern instruments. “The great violinists from 1800 onwards always went back to the instruments by Stradivarius or Guarneri. For the 19th-century makers, there was never the thrill of building for the best violinists, so they didn’t have the incentive. They were more like repairmen. They would build instruments, but they would build for the lesser player. There were quite a few good Italian instruments, but some of them have really died and are not playable any more. Now all of a sudden there is a demand. And so we go to the makers and say, sorry, we need a great instrument. We don’t need something in between.”