Website Launched

I have launched a personal website about my teaching and performing career as a classical guitarist. Check it out Here.

New Classical Guitar Web Series

There is a great new site called "The Plucker Report" with lots of original content on classical guitar.

Check it out here.

Interesting Article on the Current State of the Guitar

The great guitarist Marcelo Kayeth recently wrote an article which mirrors many of my own ideas on the guitar. Its worth a read

http://guitarsalon.com/blog/?p=1412

Great Baden Powell Arrangement

I had never heard of Alfredo Muro until I stumbled upon this video. It is a really great arrangement, not to mention well performed. It really brings out that distinct afro samba rhythm which makes Baden Powell so infectious. Alfedo Muro is from Portland, Oregon.

Alice Artzt explains Ida Presti's right hand position

This is the first in a really interesting series of videos which examine the fundamentals of guitar technique. It is worth watching all four videos, even if you are a very experienced guitarist. She provides a different perspective on technique than the common, modern school of guitar playing. Alice Artzt was a student of Ida Presti, and is now a guitar teacher in NJ.

De Lhoyer: Duos et Concerto Pour Guitare

I recently found this interesting new recording of music by Antoine de Lhoyer, performed by the french early music group "Ensemble Matheus", and the guitar duo, "Duo Spinosi." Lhoyer had interested my since I heard the amazing recording of his guitar duos by Lorenzo Micheli and Matteo Mela. His music and biography reminded me of George Onslow, another wealthy French amateur composer, whose music has been mostly forgotten.

This new recording was disappointing. It features Lhoyer's only guitar concerto, which sadly, is not a work of the same quality as his guitar duos. The performance and recording quality also left something to be desired. It is one of those concerto recordings that sounds like you are hearing a string orchestra fifty feet away, and the soloist playing right next to you.

The guitar playing in the concerto seemed uninspired. It lacked any coloristic or dynamic shaping, and lacked the rhythmic buoyancy which I think is really needed in the quicker movements. The second half of the CD is a recording of the guitar duos, but their performance suffers from the same problems as the concerto, and I much prefer the Micheli/Mela recording.

Rare Julian Bream Recording