Lucy faces a dilemma over her cello in A Distant Prospect. So, how do you decide whether to go with Guarneri or Stradivari?
Renaud Capuçon (Simon Fowler/Virgin Classics)
Few get a chance to make an informed judgment, but one person who has is the French violinist Renaud Capuçon. For several years, Capuçon played the 1721 Stradivarius once owned by Fritz Kreisler. But in 2008, Capuçon got his “dream” violin: a 1737 Guarneri, in this case the one played for many years by Isaac Stern. In August 2008, Capuçon spoke with Radio WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon and offered his comparison of the two violins, and told the story of how he came to possess Stern’s beloved Guarneri del Gesù.