Page 68 - 2016Winter

Book Review
A great deal of the book discusses the trials and tribulations of Carleen’s Violin Octet. With the Octet she attempted to bridge the gap between the violin, viola, cello, and bass with a set of eight instruments graduated from a small violin to a very large bass. Promoting this Octet became an overrid- ing passion for Carleen who travelled over the world in the effort. Ms. Whitney describes the many tribulations from funding musicians to perform to convincing conductors like Leopold Stokowski to inject them into the orchestra. This re- viewer was fortunate to perform with the Sixteen Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia on the so called “tenor,” a small cello tuned a fifth higher. It was a joy to play, and played with ease. However, a colleague who played the much larger baritone cello groaned at the difficultly of playing it. It is perhaps in this last comment that the fate of Carleen’s Octet rested—it turned out that classically trained musicians that spend so many hours in the practice room would mostly remain un- willing to struggle with a new set of difficulties presented
by the Octet. The author captures this so well in her writing of the history of the Violin Octet, leaving the reader a bit sad in the end. However, and moreover, one cannot forget that Carleen’s greatest contribution was to the field of violin acoustics.
This reviewer highly recommends this book. It is an engag- ing, entertaining, accurate, and informative work, especially to those with an interest in music and acoustics. Having researched extensively Carleen’s life, Quincy Whitney has done a phenomenal job.
Review by:
EARL G. WILLIAMS
Senior Scientist for Structural Acoustics, Acoustics Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7106, 4555 Overlook Av- enue, Washington, DC 20375
[Published online 10 October 2016, Journal of Acoustical So- ciety of America. 140 (4)]
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66 | Acoustics Today | Winter 2016