After completing safely my 50th anniversary year in 2025, I am now embarking on a new beginning.
As I wonder how the year 2026 would become, I started thinking about my beloved instrument, Duranty.
Actually, my Stradivarius Duranty (made in 1716) will turn 310 this year. It came to me in 2002, so 24 years have passed already which is quite emotional when I think of it.
Wood is amazing. The vitality of the tree itself is immeasurable, and by continuing to impart certain amount of sound vibration, the tone seems to mature.
Here, I am tracing back the history of Duranty once again.
Surprisingly, there are only four individuals who owned this Stradivarius in the 310 years since its birth, Senju family being the fourth. Considering this fact, I feel a renewed sense of responsibility yet again.
As the very first owner listed was the Pope of Rome at the time, this instrument had endured a most extraordinary fate. After the Pope’s death, his close associate brought it to the Duranty family in France where it remained hidden for the long 200 years. This Stradivarius that lied silently, was passed on to a very wealthy Swiss family just before the Duranty clan had fallen. There it remained hidden once again for another eighty years.
Upon this wealthy man’s death, he stated in his will – if it remains like this, it will never get to be played by a violinist. So, I insist the next owner to be a violinist. As a consequence, approaches were made behind closed doors.
Surprisingly, after a long journey across the sea, it arrived in the eastern island of Japan, to the Senju household (laugh) in Aoba-ku, Yokohama City, where we lived at the time.
Then it became clear that since its creation by Antonio Stradivari in 1716, it had never been passed in the hands of a professional violinist meaning that it had never been properly played.
So, this Stradivarius arrived in front of me in a state almost brand new, and was still tuned to the Baroque era tuning.
But I was never told about the history of this Stradivarius at my first encounter with the instrument. As I had seen and played a few Stradivarius instruments before, I approached it with a general idea of what I might expect.
However, to my surprise, it possessed an aura exceeding my imagination and expectations by far, a truly powerful presence, and it was nothing of the sort of tone that I had heard before.
It felt like a “voice” instead of “sound” out of nowhere. I even felt a kind of terrifying thrill, a shiver down my spine as it was like a “voice of a creature” that I had never met before.
Therefore, having met such an “entity”, I was convinced that it was something so profound and dedicating the rest of my life as a violinist would still not be enough.
From then, I endeavoured to play this Stradivarius, which was as good as brand new.
I played and played, practiced hard, confronting and spending entire days with the instrument
for months and years. But I struggled to master the Duranty. When I finally realised I was pushing my body to the breaking point, I felt that my body itself needed to be remodelled for playing the Duranty.
Starting off by “drinking three raw eggs every morning”, consuming various nutritional foods
which was different from “eating meals I wanted because they taste good”. I also went swimming three or four times a week, covering one to three kilometres to strengthen my body.
Finally, I succeeded in transforming my body into one capable of playing the Duranty. The world that I started walking alongside the Duranty was totally unknown realm, and I got excited with the image of it stretching out eternally.
Trees are amazing.
The timbre kept changing, as if a frozen creature was defrosted, with its body temperature rising and pulse beginning to beat. Duranty began singing melodies, with rosy cheeks, full of life.
The space I dance in with Duranty have the eternal potential that unfold before my eyes.
My 51st year on stage has begun.
It is my true pleasure to share the joy of the sound experienced alongside Duranty, and to open up the doors to see the new vistas together with all of you.