January 2009
I would like to use this part of my renewed website not only to show or discuss things directly related to my craft and business, but also to share what is really essential to me: music. Those of you who may find a small interest in a guitarmaker's website, will probably expect guitar-related stuff here. Yet, I hope there are a few pleasant surprises to come...
The following are indeed classical guitar-players and, as it happens, customers. But this is not the reason for presenting them here. Most of all, both of them are composers and creative-minded musicians with a genuine and honest urge to share their creative output with others.
BENOIT ALBERTis French and lives in Agen, in the south-west of France. It's he you can hear on the main page of this site. This excerpt being particularly website-user friendly, you can hear more of his not-so-friendly, but still beautiful stuff here:
I particularly recommend his latest project, the "Détours" CD, which will come out in a few months, as this is some of the finest modern chamber music that I have heard in years. His three fellow musicians are quite remarkable: not only are they brilliant players, but they are also kind-hearted enough to consider a guitar as a musical instrument and a guitar-player as a musician.
Well done !
ULLRICH UHLAND WARNECKE is German, which is no
t just another irrefutable proof that nobody is perfect, but also one of the things we have in common. Together with
having both been raised in the "Münsterland" region, in the north-west of Germany. He is not only a particularly nice
guy, but also an outstanding guitarist: an impressive example of what happens when a gifted young rock guitarist
gets a classical guitar in his hands... and doesn`t leave it anymore. His CD "Gitarre" is a beautiful blend of his
own compositions with late baroque lute music transcriptions. You can hear samples of this and more of his work on:
JOANNA NEWSOM
Joanna Newsom does not play the guitar. Possibly one of the many proofs of her genius? Instead,
she plays the harp, piano and harpsichord, composes and writes. So much for the mere facts. Now, to explain why I
want to introduce her here, there's a problem: Joanna Newsom is beyond compare. Any attempt to bring her closer to
you by using comparisons like "she sounds like X" or "reminds one of Y" are utterly misleading and would do
her no justice. Joanna Newsom resembles only to Joanna Newsom. And even that i am not sure of ! But nothing more is required
to meet her than a pair of working ears and some good wil - the experience may be dangerously addictive.
I would like to say more - and say it better. But I am not a native speaker of English and it might turn out being a painful exercise, both for me
and for you. So here's something i found online, on a blog, run by Kari from New York.
I asked her for permission to use her text here and she kindly accepted. Thanks to her !
"When I first heard my first Joanna song, "Sprout and the Bean", I recoiled in horror from my computer. The otherworldly voice that came blasting out at me from my shitty laptop speakers sent me scrambling for the stop button. I thought her voice was awful. I thought she sounded like Lisa Simpson and thought she was tuneless and twee. I dismissed her outright. Of course, my husband discovered her sophomore album Ys before I did. I had already written her off as some freak show with a harp and an unbearable voice. (...) I decided to give the first track "Emily" a listen and was immediately like "OMG what IS this?" However, after a few more listens at his urging, I became reluctantly intrigued. I was like "Who is this woman and what does she want from me?" (...) When "Only Skin" reached its absolutely breathtaking finale (it's 17 minutes long), I literally had to sit down and absorb what I was hearing. With tears running down my face, I was utterly stunned that I had somehow missed the genius hidden beneath that warbly, childlike voice. I remember walking up to my husband and being like "I was so so wrong", and he said, "I know. I can't even believe that she exists in this world."
I immediately picked up a copy of her first album, The Milk-Eyed Mender, and while her voice is a bit challenging on it, I now adore nearly every song. While more folky and amateurish than Ys, songs like "Sadie", "Peach Plum Pear" and "En Gallop" are works of genius. I think what I adore most about Joanna Newsom is her lyrics. Oh, her LYRICS. They are just the most amazing amazing thing. She started as a composer and poet, and the words read as such.
For example:
"I dreamed you were skipping little stones across the surface of the water
Frowning at the angle where they were lost, and slipped under forever
In a mud-cloud, mica-spangled, like the sky'd been breathing on a mirror"
From "Emily"
"And the mealy worms in the brine will burn
in a salty pyre, among the fauns and ferns.
And the love we hold, and the love we spurn,
will never grow cold, only taciturn."
From "Sadie"
"The cities we passed were a flickering wasteland
But his hand in my hand made them hale and harmless
While down in the lowlands the crops are all coming;
We have everything
Life is thundering blissful towards death
In a stampede of his fumbling green gentleness"
From "Only Skin"
"And as for my inflammatory writ?
Well, I wrote it and I was not inflamed one bit.
Advice from the master derailed that disaster;
He said "Hand that pen over to me, poetaster!"
From "Inflammatory Writ"
Joanna Newsom's music has raised the bar for me as far as what I want from my music. I know its unfair to compare people to her, because she really is a genius, but the depth and emotion in her work along with her extraordinary musicianship has me spoiled. And her voice - that silly, childlike, warbling voice - is just as beautiful to me as her lyrics and melodies. What's funny is that a lot of people utterly despise her - some of my nearest and dearest, in fact - and while it bothered me at one point, it doesn't anymore. They're just totally missing out. (...) The woman inspires me because I applaud her genius and her strength. Her writing is so beautiful and so incredibly brave. I am always inspired and motivated by artists who aren't afraid to "go there". She went there, all right, and did it in a way that incorporated imagery and symbolism so flawlessly that the images are as much a part of the story as the emotions behind it."
From Kari's Blog - My inflammatory writ
http://www.dragcity.com/bands/newsom.html
Valéry Sauvage is unique. Although he studied the lute, he has chosen to remain a non-professional musician... and yet a real enthusiast, an amateur in a true and unspoiled sense of the word: he likes to share and shares what he likes. Last year, he acquired a French pre-romantic guitar and it turned out to be a perfect match. Here´s one of his many contributions on YouTube, playing this guitar:
Valéry Sauvage - Carcassi - Etude 7 op. 60
A few words about our place. We are living in the very south of the Burgundy region, about 80 km
north of Lyon. The location of our village is right on the intersection of three different
countrysides: the "Charollais", known for the beasts of the same name, providing France
with some of the finest beef, the "Maconnais", mainly producing white wine, and the north of
the Beaujolais, where the "Cru du Beaujolais" vines are produced (the vine simply known as
"Beaujolais" is made closer to Lyon). Interestingly, it's not only the landscapes that vary
a lot within a relatively small area, but also the human beings making a living from it. Yet,
a guitarmaker is a strange animal everywhere - but at least, there are more of them strange
animals here: Christopher Clarke is world-famous for his Pianoforte reproductions, Erla Jonasdottir
highly appreciated for her violins, homemade food and warmth of heart and Pascal Cranga is making
Hurdy-Gurdies and dealing with wood. He and his wife Marie were more or less involved in getting
many musical instrument makers to settle down here, close to what was once a spiritual centre of
Europe: Cluny.
To learn more about Cluny and the countrysides around, if you like to, you can start
with the following sites:
Coming soon:
Paul Storey, painter
Brigitte Zaczek, romantic guitar
Bernhard Kresse, guitarmaker
David Garciarena, classical guitar
Pierre Pitzl, baroque guitar
Pascal Mougin, photographer
