‘A lower saddle, a Classical-style tailpiece and bridge, a tailgut and gut strings’

The following extract is from The Strad’s April 2022 issue Session Report ‘A Meeting at the Crossroads’. To read it in full, click here  to subscribe and login. The April 2022 digital magazine  and print edition  are on sale now

Both musicians borrowed from the instrumental collection of London’s Royal Academy of Music for the album. Podger plays on the 1718 ‘Maurin’ Stradivari, and Glynn on an 1840 Érard. ‘Barbara Meyer, curator of instruments at the RAM, made a number of adjustments to the set-up to bring it as close as possible to that of a late 18th- or early 19th-century instrument,’ explains Podger. ‘Although opening up the instrument and changing the angle of the neck was not on the cards, the “Maurin” had to get used to a lower saddle, a Classical-style tailpiece and bridge, a tailgut and gut strings. It didn’t complain at all, and in fact was very easy-going about these changes. I loved playing it, and it in turn gave me some lovely warm sounds and plenty of colours to enjoy!’