Portrait in Shellac is the first disc of its kind: a solo CD of new compositions and improvisations featuring the rarely seen or heard Stroh violin, accompanied by its begetter: the wind-up gramophone. In addition to programme notes, the 12-page booklet gives a detailed history of this fascinating instrument.

The Stroh is distinguished by its large aluminium horn and diaphragm amplification system that replaces the hollow body and soundpost of a conventional violin. It was invented by John Matthias Augustus Stroh in London - 1899, for the early horn gramophone and phonograph recording studios, as normal stringed instruments were insufficiently directional. The Stroh’s construction is based on the same principle as the sound box and horn of a gramophone.

The sweet nostalgic tone of the Stroh is combined with the surface noises of heavily worn maltreated and modified 78 r.p.m. shellac discs, as well as sounds from the gramophone mechanism itself in a seven-part musical assemblage. Many new sounds and techniques of playing are incorporated that are not possible on a conventional fiddle. Also appearing on this recording is the Transylvanian Violinofón - a folk instrument based on the Stroh violin still made today in a remote region of Romania.
The London born, Berlin based violinist and composer Aleksander Kolkowski calls on a varied international career in new and experimental music and music-theatre. He is principally known as an improviser, having appeared in major festivals worldwide and on numerous CD releases with leading artists. This is his first solo CD which also features Crank Start, specially composed for him by the British composer Robin Hayward where the Stroh violin also closely imitates the mechanical sounds of a wind-up gramophone.