Sunday Feature: A Tree Story

Martin Handley has played on his great-great-grandfather's violin since he was seven years and has always admired its beauty and been intrigued by its provenance. Martin joins violinist Christian Garrick, about whose instrument everything is known, and together they chart a journey backwards from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire's Bradshaw Hall to the forests of Bavaria. Martin talks to John Dilworth, the maker of Christian's violin, about the process of building instruments, and what is required from the raw materials, and also meets an acoustician, an engineer and a dendrochronologist, who help reveal some of the science behind the music