Recording the ‘Devil’s Trill’ on a Strad

Milwaukee Symphony concertmaster to record a theme album of music associated with his notable violin

Frank Almond, concertmaster for the Milwaukee Symphony and teacher at Northwestern University, has begun a fund-raising campaign for an album featuring the “Lipinski” Stradivari violin from 1715.

In the video for his Kickstarter project, Almond says he plans on using this “golden period” Strad, which is on loan from an anonymous benefactor, “to do a recording that has music directly associated with the history and pedigree of this violin.” The violin has a well-documented history, including ownership by Giuseppe Tartini. [The violin’s namesake, Karol Lipinski, received the instrument in dramatic fashion from Tartini’s student Signor Salvini, who smashed Lipinski’s violin upon hearing him play and presented him with this Strad.]

The recordings, scheduled to take place in August date, will include Tartini’s most famous composition, the Devil’s Trill Sonata, a virtuoso solo piece by Karol Lipinski, one of violinist/composer Julius Roentgen’s violin sonatas, and Robert Schumann’s Sonata in D minor.