Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Classical Music - 5 October 2014

What difference does a good musical instrument make to a performance?

On tonight's show Catherine Bott tries to answer the question, 'What difference does a good musical instrument make to a performance?' 

To illustrate, Catherine has chosen recordings of some of the world's greatest musicians playing on some of the world's most expensive and renowned instruments. Naturally there are a few appearances of Stradivarius and Guarneri violins. 

GALLERY: The Magic of the Stradivarius: the most beautiful vioiins in the world > 

Janine Jansen plays the Beethoven Violin Concerto on the Stradivarius Barrere while Renaud Capuçon plays Richard Strauss on a 1737 Guarneri, which was owned for many years by Isaac Stern. 

We'll also hear Bach's Violin Concerto No.2 in E major played on a 1697 Stradivarius called the Molitor, which was bought for a record 3.6 million dollars.