Media reports on my work focus on sound and craftsmanship. Here is a selection of voices that have been part of my studio over the years.
Press Reviews
Press Releases
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Learn moreMedia reports
The Soul of the Violin
Documentary: (52 min.) by Benedikt Schulte | A co-production between BR and EuroArts Music in collaboration with ARTE.
Premiered on May 6, 2018, at the 33rd International DOK.fest Munich; nominated for the FFF Support Award.
Kurt Tykwer – Remarks at the Film Matinee, December 2018
“His great love is made of wood and over 300 years old: the Stradivarius ‘Lady Inchiquin’ is the voice of star violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann. For two years, he had to do without the 6-million instrument due to the bankruptcy of its owner, a bank. The documentary follows the celebrated soloist as he reconnects with the love he thought he had lost. “This is my voice! Now I have it back,” says Zimmermann as he finally holds the violin in his hands again.
But how does such a voice come into being—how does one create the perfect sound? World-renowned violin maker Martin Schleske describes his works as “sculptures of sound.” For him, it is an existential experience when a tree becomes a violin, and material ultimately becomes music. “It’s about giving the musician a voice through my instrument,” Schleske says, describing his calling.
“Two intertwined stories of the search for—and discovery of—the perfect sound are told. Virtuoso concert scenes, personal interviews, and exceptionally intimate glimpses into the violin-making workshop paint a portrait of an instrument that straddles the line between myth and measurability, between tradition and innovation.”
“That’s my voice! Now I have it back,” says Frank Peter Zimmermann as he finally holds the violin in his hands again. But how does such a voice come to be? How does one create the perfect sound? The world-renowned Landsberg violin maker Martin Schleske describes his works as “sculptures of sound.” For him, it is an existential experience when a tree becomes a violin—and the material ultimately becomes music.”
BR-Klassik
Additional Radio and Film Segments
Harmony of Opposites –
A portrait of violin maker, physicist, and equestrian Martin Schleske
A film by Elke Zimmermann (director). A television segment from the series Lebensformen.
“When Martin Schleske builds a violin or a viola, it is, for him, a prayer in itself. Whether he is planing or polishing—he is always seeking out the true sound of the wood, which will later become the musician’s inner voice.”
He has since come to realize that craftsmanship combined with scientific methods is his life’s work. But that cannot be the source from which he draws his strength. He finds that strength in his faith, and for some time now, especially in horses. A very personal portrait of the violin maker, physicist, and passionate rider.”
A Mystery Resounds Within Every Person – A Film for Good Friday
A film by Melitta Müller-Hansen (director) and Sabine Rauh (editor). A television segment produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR).
“Violin maker Martin Schleske understands the laws of acoustics and the nature of wood. He knows that a tree that has grown slowly in poor soil yields the best tonewood. And he knows how to work with this wood when the grain isn’t ideal. For him, many stages in the development of an instrument are parables for human development. Whether a person has truly managed to accept setbacks and crises and grow from them. Whether a person accepts the grain of their life or works against it. Everyone carries this secret within themselves.”
This film won the Golden Compass Award in 2012.
Broadcast date:
April 2012
10:15 a.m.
Aline Baumann meets inventors…
A spiritual film by the “Fenster zum Sonntag” editorial team (SRF zwei)
Filming with Martin Schleske for “Aline Baumann Meets Inventors and Violin Makers.”
“Martin Schleske is a world-renowned German violin maker. The press has even called him the ‘Stradivari of the 21st century.’ However, the violin maker doesn’t like this comparison; he doesn’t want to copy others, but rather to create his own sound. Four years ago, a film crew from FENSTER ZUM SONNTAG visited Martin Schleske in his master workshop near Munich.
“High up under the attic in the new studio house, he has set up his writing retreat…”
Artists in Conversation
Artists in conversation, reports from the world of music, and interesting stories from on and off stage—every Thursday at 7:05 p.m. on KlassikPlus.
Martin Schleske, a master violin maker from Landsberg am Lech, is a man with a calling. He is a man who has devoted himself to the calling of his heart: to be an instrument himself, in order to create first-class instruments that are in demand worldwide.
Martin Schleske became known to a wider audience through his two books, Der Klang and the Spiegel bestseller Herztöne. In them, he describes the creative act of violin making as a living faith. He shares this experience through profound parables on the great themes of life throughout the ages: love, devotion, inspiration, wisdom, and mysticism. Always in search of the healing sound. In search of the voice of the soul. How the violin reveals the mystery of God—Martin Schleske discusses this with Uta Sailer on “KlassikPlus.”
Broadcast date:
November 8, 2018, 7:05–8:00 p.m.
KlassikPlus Radio BR-Klassik.
Life is like a violin…
A spiritual film by the editorial team of “Pro Medienmagazin.” By Jörn Schumacher.
“He is not only a renowned violin maker; Martin Schleske is also a physicist, philosopher, and theologian…”
Stradivari: The Secret Behind the Sound of Fine Violins
A film by Irina Bosse-Kohlhaas. A television program produced by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR)
“Martin Schleske builds replicas of the most valuable instruments. Using physical methods, he manages to come extremely close to the original. Was Stradivari’s secret perhaps no secret at all? The violin maker and physicist explains: “These attempts to unravel Stradivari’s secret…”
Broadcast dates:
April 2002, on the science magazine show Prisma (NDR), and May 15, 2002, on Globus—The Magazine for Research and the Environment (ARD)
Deutschland Radio
“What makes art appealing is its ambiguity; I’ve always been skeptical of unambiguous spaces and unambiguous definitions. Ambiguity is something that is much more appropriate to the artistic process. It resists the trivialization of life through logic.”
