News

Here you will find information about recordings with our instruments, compositions written for Michael Fischer instruments, and how to take care of your own instrument(s)!

LOS ANGELES TIMES REVIEW:
Dale Hikawa Silverman shines playing solos on a Michael Fischer viola…Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, LA Phil & Dudamel (LATimes review by Mark Swed)

Hilary Hahn and a Michael Fischer violin
Hilary Hahn toured Russia in 2006 playing a Michael Fischer Guarnerius copy.

MFischer Violin Featured on Martin Chalifour ablum
Recorded in Walt Disney Concert Hall – 2008
chalifourclick here to listen (itunes) – Tracks 4, 5, 6
Martin Chalifour in Walt Disney Concert Hall,
Yarlung Records 24 Karat Gold Audiophile Pressing
Luxuriate in the sound of Martin Chalifour playing four exquisite violins in Walt Disney

Mr. Chalifour explains the excitement and use of multiple violins for this recording:
Additionally, we used five violins in this recording, each of which sounds very different. Jerry and Terri Kohl own the famous “ex Goldmann” Stradivarius (1716) played for most of his career by Nathan Milstein. It is this violin, more than any other, with which Milstein made Bach’s sonatas and partitas so famous in the twentieth century, both in concert, and on his renowned Capitol Records and Deutsche Grammophon recordings. The Kohl family kindly allowed Martin to use this instrument, and Martin plays it for much of this album. The Los Angeles Philharmonic owns the 1729 “Joachim,” or “Petschnikoff” or “Jack Benny Strad,” owned and played by the comedian, and given by him to the orchestra. This second Stradivarius is the instrument Martin usually plays in concert with the Philharmonic. Martin owns a beautiful Josef Filius Andrea Guarneri, known as the “ex Sigmund Biel” (ca. 1720), and he borrowed his friend Cheryl Norman’s Michael Fischer violin made in Los Angeles in 1995 as well. Michael Fischer used the “Joseph Guarnerius fecit Cremonae” (1741) as his model for Cheryl’s new violin. For the Schönberg duets, Martin plays the Fischer on the left track on our recording and Maia Jasper plays her Lavazza (ca. 1720) on the right track. The manuscripts indicate that Schönberg wrote these charming ditties when he was six years old. It may be, however, that he was the ripe old age of eight or nine. Either way, they reveal Schönberg’s delightful whimsy years before he became the Arnold Schönberg.

The Return of Domenicus Montagnana
Michael recently attended the concert of Evan Drachman, cello, and Mary Au, piano, as part of the L’Ermitage Performing Arts Series.

At this wonderful concert Michael became reacquainted with the original Domenicus Montagnana cello, which first came to his shop in 1985. He was so compelled by its beauty and sound in 1985 that Michael made a copy of this cello, and has since made approximately 12 additional copies. This Montagnana cello is particularly intriguing because of its extremely pure state; that being the very wide uncut model.  This was the first time in over 25 years that he was able to see the original, which doesn’t happen often with such pristine instruments.