Landau

“I feel the Landau viola is the best-sounding viola I’ve ever heard. There are only five or six Guarneri violas in existence and the Landau is the finest. In actual use, it is powerful enough to stand up to a full orchestra and still be heard clearly in any hall. Yet it still blends with the other instruments in a string quartet to make a lovely, coherent, perfectly balanced and rich quartet sound. Its preservation is almost uniquely fine and, most unusually, it retains its original neck. According to the great expert Alfred Hill, it is one of five or so best-preserved Cremonese instruments of any maker. Period.”

David Fulton