Hey! 

Welcome to issue 17/24 of our newsletter.

“Music is the language that unites all of us”: Today we once again have a very fascinating interview partner in Irina Kulikova!

The Album of the Week is the first sonic jigsaw piece of a trilogy with exciting premises.

There was a funny coincidence in the Sheet Music category. We had the same idea as Gian Marco Campa – and so today we have a solo and a duo arrangement of a Christmas piece by a prominent composer.

Finally, a short musical journey through time from the modern era back to Shakespeare's era, with a visit to John Dowland.

A piece with a quote, and the whole thing arranged all over again ... that would be a quote of a quote, wouldn’t it? But – spoiler alert – a very good one!

Yeah! There are just so many musical playgrounds and possibilities of expression!

Enjoy the read!

YOUTUBE FIND OF THE WEEK
with Alec Holcomb

“Sing Me into Singing”, a wonderful piece by US composer Daniel de Tongi, originally written for his friend John Vidovic, also a composer but also a guitarist. Daniel de Tongi draws his inspiration from his Japanese and Italian roots and performs with the Japanese flute, the shakuhachi, among other instruments.

“Sing me into singing”, in this clear and lyrical interpretation by Alec Holcomb, sets the scene for both the lightness and the depth (middle part) of the piece in an enjoyable way. Alec has also made a few edits to make the piece flow even better on the guitar. We agree with the Omni Foundation's comment below the video: “Dear YouTube algorithm: Give this more views!”

SHEET MUSIC
Gian Marco Ciampa – Julens Vuggesang (Edvard Grieg)

To help you get into the Christmas spirit, we went in search of a Christmas carol for today's sheet music edition.

We found what we were looking for in Edvard Grieg! “Julens Vuggesang” is the name of the piece – a beautiful, simple Christmas lullaby for piano and voice. Without further ado, we arranged it for you as a duo version.

Doing some further research and thinking about including a solo arrangement in the edition, we came across a reel by Gian Marco Ciampa, in which – as luck would have it – he interprets this very piece so incredibly beautifully and tastefully as a solo version. We are delighted that Gian Marco has agreed to make his arrangement available for the newsletter. 

Do check out Gian Marco! 

Instagram: gmciampa

At his young age, the Italian guitarist has already achieved pretty much everything there is to achieve in the competition scene, has toured all over the world and regularly acts as a lecturer. With his soulful guitar playing, he immediately casts a spell over us! 

Have fun getting in the mood for Christmas :)

ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Duo Bergerac

Quiet, Gentle, Warm is a trilogy of albums by the fantastic Duo Bergerac, the first of which has already been released while the second is expected in early 2025! In fact, the title of the trilogy describes in itself how the duo's playing shimmers in your ears: calm, gently spreading and with a very, very pleasantly warm sound. Believe us: we didn't just listen to Quiet once! Our note after the first listen: “What a beautiful-sounding instrument the guitar is!”

The opening with the three miniatures by Giya Kancheli draws you into a movie that won't let you go so quickly and that you can watch again and again. We also immediately added the first miniature, “King Lear”, to the Spotify playlist for the newsletter.

Our highlight of the record is the track “Carinhoso”! Super playful and light and yet quiet. And we are more than happy to now have a recording of the “Romance”, op. 100 no. 1 by Francis Kleynjans with such a beautifully rounded sound and phrasing, which lends itself perfectly for the repeat button! This piece is a real gem for guitar duos.

We, for one, are fans of the album. But enough words now – let's sit back and listen to it again!

KNOW-HOW 
with Irina Kulikova

The guitarist Irina Kulikova is certainly well known to most people here, not least because of her incredibly beautiful tone, with which she makes the hearts of guitar enthusiasts and music lovers beat faster!

She has performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, the Palau de la Musica in Valencia, the Musashino Hall in Tokyo and the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, to name but a few. We have also always been impressed by the ease with which she pulls off even the fastest passages with seemingly effortless ease and tonal mastery. We therefore tried to elicit a few secrets of her work from her and are delighted that she took the time to answer our questions. 

Irina, what was the most challenging piece that you ever approached and why?

I would say several, such as the pieces ”Fantasia”, op. 30 by F. Sor or “Rondo”, no. 3 by D. Aguado, because they are super delicate. Maybe you would expect from me an answer like the Aranjuez Concerto for the fast passages: but if you know the technique, have comfortable fingerings, learn the passages properly, it becomes super easy and relaxing to play fast pieces. The same with very rhythmical music.

How do you approach technique? Is it still part of your practice routine? 

I don’t practice the technique: no studies, no exercises, no scales (my beginner students do, for sure). I learn new pieces and keep my repertoire in shape during my practice routine. And in the pieces I always find something challenging. So I take it apart and give some extra time to the particular short fragment: I repeat it several times till it gets fixed enough, then I move forward.

How would you describe different phases of learning a piece? Maybe you can give an example with a piece you are currently working on?

There is an important first step for me when I take up a new piece: to write down the fingerings. The second step is when I separate a piece in different fragments: I would learn the most challenging parts first, as they need much more time, then easier parts. Of course memorizing the piece and getting it into the flow takes some time and patience. Some are established fast and some need a year's time.

I am currently busy with pieces that are written with dedication to me by several composers from the USA, England, Germany etc. I love my new project. And happy to have some new beautiful repertoire for the future guitarists.

If you could give advice to yourself as a very young guitarist, what would it be?

Trust your gut instincts and don’t listen to everybody.

Imagine you could have one sentence printed on a poster to be put up in huge numbers at all the (classical) music festivals in the world. What sentence would that be?

“Music is the language that unites all of us, transcending time, place, and words.”

More about Irina Kulikova:

Website: www.irinakulikova.com
Online-Shop: www.touch.productions
Instagram: irinakulikova_guitar

GUITAR AND…Viola

Benjamin Britten had a particular affinity with the viola. His “Lachrymae” from 1950 is based on John Dowland's song “If my complaints could passions move”. Incidentally, the theme only appears in the last variation – a piece like a journey from modernism back to Elizabethan music.

The beginning of the Dowland melody is briefly quoted by the viola right at the beginning, but is immediately enveloped by a dissonant chord.

Originally with piano accompaniment, Jacob Kellermann has arranged the piece for guitar and viola. And what an arrangement!

Be sure to watch what Jacob Kellermann and violist Göran Fröst do in the most beautiful way: celebrate music! And… stay tuned until the end for the Downland song! 

Britten himself also arranged the piece for string orchestra. We really liked the version by Douglas Boyd and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe!

OUTRO

We hope we were able to get you excited about the artists in today's issue. Once again, it was a great pleasure to discover so many different albums, composers, videos and great people. We were able to absorb so much again!

Warm greetings from an already rather frosty Berlin,

Stefan & Willi

New Classical Guitar is a newsletter by Willi Leinen and Stefan Degel from TMBM. You can find our music and more information about our journey at http://t-m-b-m.com/.

On Spotify, we curate a playlist with our favorite pieces. Feel free to follow our New Classical Guitar Playlist at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZwxJRAsW9Zs2JiS2eLy6a?si=9b2a737f01c043a4 and recommend new additions.