Mark Fewer: New Bach Recording Showcases Canadian Luthiers

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Canadian violinist Mark Fewer not only plays the violin—he plays a lot of them. His album—J.S. Bach: Violin Sonatas and Partitas, to be released by Leaf Music in August—is recorded on six different violins, each made by a leading Canadian luthier. The album is an “homage to Canadian makers. …I thought, what better way to pay tribute to these great makers than to challenge yourself to record the greatest challenge of the repertoire to begin with—which is this repertoire of unaccompanied Bach,” says Fewer.

A passion for lutherie has marked the performer’s career. When he founded the Sweetwater Music Festival in the early 2000s, Fewer wanted to draw attention to the concentration of instrument makers in Canada’s Georgian Bay area. The luthiers featured on the album are connected with the festival, which brings world-class string players to the “shores of Georgian Bay” and, as part of the event, has them spend time with makers in the area.

Through his acquaintance with Ontario-based luthiers John Newton and David Prentice, Fewer was introduced to “more and more makers, not just in that part of Ontario, but in the [rest of the]country.” In addition to Newton and Prentice, the other featured luthiers—Mark Schnurr, Itzel Ávila, Isabelle Wilbaux, and Sibylle Ruppert—“are all making instruments that are touring the globe regularly.” Fewer explains that the group “is representative of how great the Canadian scene is,” despite being less well-known internationally.

As a member of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, Fewer regularly plays on violins crafted by Stradivarius, Guarneri and Amati. Accustomed to such legendary instruments, he explains that he is “not suffering at all” playing violins made by Canadian luthiers. What these instruments share, he says, is a boundless quality—an endless capacity for tones, colours and textures that emerge each time he places one under his chin.

Pointing to the wealth of technological advancements in lutherie over the last 20 years, Fewer explains how the templates of history’s great violins are easily accessible online. What separates a simple craftsperson from what he calls a “wood whisperer” though, is the ability to “start with a template, and then follow what’s inherent to the wood to finish a design.” Violin-making is a living process: each instrument is as unique as the tree from which it came. “It’s in that understanding that they create something really beautiful,” says Fewer.