Hey!

We hope you're in a good mood and ready for some guitar inspiration. We've had a very inspiring week ourselves. One thing remains to be said: The most inspiring thing is always live concerts. Be it as a listener or as an artist. They are magical moments that can hardly be created in any other way.

It also gets magical in our video of the week with Equinox by Toru Takemitsu, expressive in the album of the week, and while we ask composer Leon Albert about the routine of the week again, Peter Graneis fires us up in the Know-How interview with very helpful answers on the subject of speed.

Fasten your seatbelts, here we go!

Enjoy reading.

Stefan & Willi

YOUTUBE FIND OF THE WEEK
with Kevin Cahill

Spatial design is the keyword of our YouTube Find of the Week, in a threefold sense: compositionally, videographically and interpretatively. For us, this video is a benchmark in the aesthetic realization of composition by both the interpreter and the videographers.

In terms of interpretation, Toru Takemitsu's Equinox requires precise control of phrasing, timbre and pauses in order to express the intrinsic meditative depth of the piece.

Because this has been so wonderfully realized here, all we can say about Kevin Cahill's interpretation is: this is a true sound-poetic embrace!

ALBUM OF THE WEEK
with Eugenio Della Chiara

We have once again discovered a treasure. A portrait of two Spanish composers of the 20th century. Gaspar Cassadó, better known for his career as a cellist (compositionally influenced by Maurice Ravel and Manuel de Falla), and Federico Mompou, who is stylistically associated with Erik Satie and Claude Debussy.

Eugenio Della Chiara, who says he has worked intensively on the sound and arrangement of the pieces, interprets them with great care and nuance. He writes about the album:

“When I think of this album, the first thing that comes to my mind is the significant research on sound I have carried out while studying Mompou’s and Cassadó’s works. This complex research has brought me to take my idea of sound in two different directions to express the authors’ personalities. Thus, you will hear a Cassadó characterized by exuberant, occasionally exaggerated shades – almost a musical equivalent to Gaudì’s architecture and Catalan Modernism. On the contrary, you will find a more essential Mompou, where the composure of the musical gesture guides the choice of sound: to continue the architectural analogy, we could think of a Romanesque cathedral portrayed by an Impressionist painter.”

“2 Cantos populares finlandeses” by Cassadó, for example, clearly showed us what Eugenio was aiming for – and he succeeded extremely well throughout the whole record! Congratulations for this great, detailed work!

For all the arranging fans out there: “Cançó i dansa No. 10” – originally composed for piano – was arranged for guitar by Federico Mompou himself.

Get carried away and immerse yourself in this expressive music!

MORNING-ROUTINE
A coffee with Leon Albert

Hi Leon, what’s the routine for this week?

This week's routine is kind of a life motto that I try to remind myself of regularly: Slow and steady wins the race. The nocturne is an opportunity to practise this. I wish you all a pleasant deceleration!

KNOW-HOW
with Peter Graneis

Peter Graneis is a guitarist who is known for his technically demanding and elaborate programs. He studied in Stuttgart, Barcelona and The Hague. He has toured Europe as a Eurostrings artist, regularly gives master classes, and works as a lecturer at Tonebase. As we were more than impressed by the clarity and precision of his playing when listening to his LPs, we took the opportunity to ask him about tempo, velocity and virtuosity.

Hi Peter, in general, what are the most important aspects of “speed” for you?

I don't think speed is all that important. At least it's not absolutely necessary to play a great concert. Unfortunately, there are a lot of big names in guitar who insist that it's super important and also that only apoyando, alternate picking, is allowed. Since I've turned away from that because it doesn't suit my playing style and anatomy at all, I feel much more comfortable on the instrument. I think the most important aspect of playing fast is that you go your own way and don't get crazy about how fast other people are playing. It's usually nothing more than a party trick.

Are there any exercises you can recommend for daily practice?

There are a few areas that, in my opinion, should be worked on in every practice session: reflexes, coordination, tremolo, speed, stamina, sound. The exercises themselves vary, however, because I think that otherwise you become too focused on individual exercises instead of dealing with the topic as a whole.

Which pieces demanded the most from you in terms of virtuosity?

There are a few pieces that I haven't performed on stage because I wasn't able to play them the way I imagined them. That was partly due to speed: Walton's Bagatelle No. 5 or Rodrigo's Toccata.

What does an ideal practice day look like for you?

My ideal practice day is 5 hours. I spend 30' warming up and 30' on technique. After each hour there is a short break to stretch. I then dedicate 2 hours to old repertoire and the next 2 hours to working on new pieces. Experience has shown that if I exceed 5 hours, I risk injury. The most important thing here is continuity between practice days, because only if my practice relates to something I have already learned will I notice an improvement.

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?

Phones off during practice!

Peter’s Tonebase page: https://www.tonebase.co/guitar-artist-biographies/petergraneis#biography 
…and Peter on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pipiparade/

FEEL-GOOD TUNE OF THE WEEK
with Parcels

An upbeat and positive melody! It makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning. Or take a look at the sky in the middle of the day. Stress? Bad news? Put on your headphones, let your hair blow in the wind and jump on the good mood train!

Our feel-good tune of the week!

OUTRO

We hope you enjoyed reading this issue. Once again, it was a great pleasure for us to listen to so much great music!

As always, feedback and suggestions are welcome in reply to this mail!

Stay tuned!
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.