References
With a major part of my time devoted to guitar restoring and research, I have never been - and in all likelihood will never be - a very productive guitar-maker. Still, there is a good number of records, videos and audio samples out there, which incidentally feature some of my guitars.
I am probably not aware of every CD recorded on a guitar I built or restored. So if you happen to know of a recording which is not listed here, please be so kind to let me now.
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Opposite, you'll find an open access document I published on the occasion of my 50th birthday (and 30 years in the craft).
The excellent Austrian musician Pierre Pitzl playing one of my guitars after Koch. This guitar and a second one of the same type are also featured on some of his records (see below).
One wonderful gem by Valdambrini on the left, and a link to another piece by Corbetta below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wnRN2zSI5w&list=RDmLa2uEL8_Wc&index=4
Benoit Albert, who teaches at the Toulouse Conservatory, has been a friend and challenging customer for a decade and a half now. Some of his solo and duo recordings were recorded on my guitars. One of them is called "Paysages hypothétiques", which is not only one of my favorite classical guitar records, but IMHO also one of the best sounding ones.
The video opposite is a more recent than the record in question, and features one of the very rare cedar-top guitars I made.
Same (not so) old Benoit Albert, together with the excellent French steel-string guitarist Christian Laborde, performing one of Benoit's original compositions. Interestingly, this one was originally recorded on classical guitars by the Frères Meduses (see the link below). Both versions work equally well, I think.
Also, one of my favorite guitars of mine, spruce-top this time.
Gonzalo Manrique is one of the many former pupils of Prof. Brigitte Zaczek in Vienna, where he now teaches himself. He is not only an exceedingly nice chap, but also an exceptional musician.
Prof. Brigitte Zaczek's video presentation of our book Franz Schubert - 39 Lieder mit Gitarrenbegleitung - with music, too:
Cornelia Horak (soprano) and Brigitte Zaczek (romantic guitar) live in concert at the Wiener Musikverein.
Making this a Benoit Albert-triptych, here's one last video with him - this time with his long-time accolyte, the quite formidable Randall Avers. Together, they are the Frères Méduses, aka the "Jellyfish Brothers" in Shaespeare's tongue (please: do NOT ask).
A terrific duo. Both their records and live offerings are highly recommended. Some of the most original and dynamic stuff in the microcosm of the so-called classical guitar.
Jean-Pierre Cuisinier teaches at the Conservatory of Quimper. A great chap and player, who happens to own the one and only Stauffer-copy I ever made. He handles it nicely, as the video opposite proves. Beware of the shirt, though.
Contrary to my much esteemed collegues Bernhard Kresse and Jan Tulacek, I am not specialised in building copies of historical guitars. But I guess that I could easily be talked into making another one of these.
In case you already missed him, this is Benoît Albert again. In 2011, Benoît recorded a bonus-CD for the subscribers of Stauffer & Co., featuring four out of the sixty guitars presented in the book. Although there is a good number of guitars that were restored by collegues in the book, these four I restored. Benoît's playing and the quality of the recording really do these instruments justice.
Please note that the CD in question is not avalaible for sale.
Martin Hegel lives and teaches in Berlin. In 2015, he released his record "A Mozart Tribute", featuring some rare arrangements for solo guitar, as well as some very clever arrangements of his own.
It was recorded on a guitar made by Bernard Enzensperger (Vienna, c.1834), which I restored (and which is also presented in Stauffer & Co.).
This is a concert caption of the "Ensemble Adelaide", directed by Bruno Marlat. I restored one of the two Lacotes that appear here, but this is not mainly the reason to share it here.
Bruno and his wife Catherine have been doing some of the most accurate and in-depth research on historical guitars, makers and repertoire. Unfortunately, Bruno passed away in december 2019. Sharing a performance by the ensemble he founded in the 1980s is meant as a tribute to him.
One of the many, many videos recorded and shared by the most tireless guitar and lute enthousiast Valéry Sauvage.
Valéry is an amateur in the traditional, most noble sense of the term. And as it happens, his technique sits particularly well with early French six-string guitars, like this instrument by Rémy (Limoges, c.1810) - which I restored... well, it seems ages ago. It is quite rare, to hear the very nature of a guitar appear so distinctively.
The excerpt opposite presents a CD, which does not feature an instrument of mine. More importantly, it is the very first recording based on some of the arrangements from the manuscript of Franz von Schlechta, which Stefan Hackl and myself published in 2014.
Also introducing yet another highly talented player: Alberto Mesirca.
Closing this parade of guitarists, here's a link to the personal website of Prof. Brigitte Zaczek. It is only as I am writing this, that it dawns on me that the supplement "and more" (see the opposite picture) must have worn off a bit...
And yet, I am not very much into the whole idea of mentorship. But if there is anyone capable of putting that rickety concept on solid feet, it is indeed Brigitte. Ever since we first met, she has been tirelessly supportive, just as she has been with her students.
When I first told her about my ludicrous idea of a book called Stauffer & Co., she paired me up with Stefan Hackl - and de facto kick-started the project.
Hut ab, Frau B.!
While the link opposite has nothing to do with guitars, it has very much to do with Stauffer & Co.: Pascal Mougin is one of the book's co-authors and, of course, its photographer.
A large selection of his diverse, and deeply personal pictorial works is presented on his wonderful website.
