About K.C. Strings Symphonic Set
The following is from an article written about K.C. Strings, published March 14, 1999 in the Sunday business section of the Kansas City Star. To view the complete article, go to the K.C. Star web site at www.kansascity.com:
"First matched symphonic set: An acoustic difference with a symphonic set"
"Shop wants to make first matched symphonic set in 300 years"
"The K.C. Strings Violin Shop, which makes and repairs violins, violas, cellos and basses, would like to do what it believes no violin maker has done in 300 years: Make a "symphonic set" of 50 matched stringed instruments. The prospect is so exciting that the Merriam company's three owners are willing to risk losing much of their repair business to do what no master luthier's shop has done since Antonio Stradivari created a matched set of instruments for the King of Spain."
"The scope of the shop's dream is mind-boggling, but it's not unusual to find K.C. Strings instruments played around the world. Musicians in North America, Europe, and Japan play on K.C. Strings instruments. Three years ago the concertmaster of Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony flew to Kansas City to select his own K.C. Strings violin. It's all in a day's work for this 12-person shop that opened in 1992."
"To make 50 or more world class instruments, however, would tax the shop's resources. All the shop's workers would have to focus on creating the set. K.C. Strings would have to turn away its lucrative repair business for more than a year. "I don't know if (getting the commission) would be a big plus or a big minus," Michael Krutz acknowledged. The lure of setting a historical precedent is tempting, though."
The individuality of each instrument played in all orchestras can be heard and seen. This is because each instrument is a different model, having different thicknesses, methods of construction, wood, and varnish. All the changes produce instruments that have different timbre, loudness and resonance resulting in prominent dissonance between the instruments.
Simply put, because all the instruments are made by different luthiers, the look and sound of the instruments don't blend with each other. Achieving a perfect blend in an orchestra has never been done in a major Symphony because that can only be achieved if one Master Luthier makes all the instruments following the same acoustical and asthetic principles.
Then, not only will the same instruments blend with each other, but each group, violin through Bass, will blend with each other. It's the difference between hearing 50 separate instruments play the same note and hearing one huge instrument play the richest, most colorful sounding note ever heard.
REVIEWS
From the Seattle Times June 12, 1997, about a concert held at the International Music Festival of Seattle, that was going to be performed by the New European Strings (NES) on a set of instruments made by Anton Krutz:
"One important aspect listeners might not notice as immediately as "The Seasons" is the musicians' exclusive use of instruments by K.C. Strings, a violin-making company from Kansas. The three luthiers (violin makers) of K.C. Strings are Anton and Michael Krutz (father and son) and Rick Williams Historical examples of orchestras commissioned from individual violin makers abound, starting with Andrea Amati (who was commissioned in 1560 to make an entire set of 38 string instruments for the court of King Charles IX of France; four of those instruments still exist). Similarly, Stradivari made a whole set of instruments for the court orchestra of the Duke of Savoy, beginning in 1685; he later provided a set of instruments for King Charles III of Spain. In modern times, however, this practice has long since died out; Anton Krutz states that "an orchestra comprised of instruments made by only one maker is unique in modern history." The sound is alleged to approach "perfect blend."
From a review of that concert by the Seattle Times June 17, 1997:
"All the NES members were playing instruments built by Kansas City Strings, in what was described beforehand by violin maker Anton Krutz as "perfect blend". Perfect or not, the sound was truly outstanding. These instruments (which don't look identical, due to individual variations in wood color) have a big, bright sound and a lot of resonance."