Hey!

May is almost over and we are diving into June with Sergei Rachmaninov's majestic and dramatic music. In contrast, our album of the week feels like a calm embrace, and anyone who has always wanted to know how to organize a small tour for themselves will find helpful answers in our conversation with Ladislav Pasdera.

The morning routine until the next issue comes – in the form of short etudes – as always from Leon Albert and with the feel-good tune we finally try to iron out the Rachmaninovian heaviness from the beginning at the end of the issue. However, it's not that easy in a technical sense either: New York-based composer Alexander Liebermann meticulously transcribes the song of a blackbird, which is then performed in the second part, whistling from the score. This is not only fun, but also exercises the ear and trains the sense of rhythm. Simply (?) try whistling along. You will notice that the bird even sings and composes a harmonic sequence on a modal basis in addition to triads.

Now enjoy reading and trying it out for yourselves!

Stefan & Willi

YOUTUBE FIND OF THE WEEK
with Edith Pageaud

Gloomy, dramatic, majestic, melancholic. These four adjectives adequately outline the basic mood of Sergei Rachmaninov's Prelude in C sharp minor. The heavy bell motif, broken by the virtuoso melody lines and the huge chordal sound masses in the middle section, returns towards the end, appearing in a different light than at the beginning, depending on how it is interpreted. Resigned, even more desperate?

The particular challenge of transferring this piece to guitar certainly lies in the fact that the guitar has fewer volume resources than the piano. Not to mention the difficulty of maintaining the weight of the sound and the bass foundation through octaves, skillful omission, etc., in order to do justice to the guitar's smaller range. And all this without neglecting the musical character

Sounds like a challenge? Yup! Sounds impossible? Nope.

Just take a look at how Edith Pageaud has implemented this in her own arrangement. Fabulously. Our video of the week.

PS: If you want to find out more about arranging complex (piano) works, we recommend our monothematic issue 10, in which the fantastic arranger and guitarist Daniel Göritz lets us peep through the door to this fascinating world.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK
with Kevin Seddiki

First of all: treat yourself to this album!

Get a cup of coffee, sit in front of the window, go to the park or simply close your eyes, start the third track, “Mornings,” and notice how everything beautiful in this world embraces you.

It's almost outrageous with how much playful ease Kevin Seddiki wraps you around his finger.

It's hard to grasp all the different stylistic currents. World music, classical music, jazz. In the end, labels don’t matter anyway. Because the scenes he paints with his music are so intense that you just want to sink into the flow. Without wanting to grasp everything that happens musically. Those who do want to do so will be just as richly rewarded though – with fine technical nuances, sound colors, and lots of inspiration for arrangement and composition.

We have listened to the record over and over and the images in our heads have not yet been exhausted. It looks as if Cenotes de Oro will become a perennial favorite in our collection.

Simply beautiful!

And by the way: giving the track list a frame like this is like golden cream on the cake.

Enjoy!

MORNING-ROUTINE
A coffee with Leon Albert

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

Silent finger changes. If they are necessary, it can make you angry, but you mustn't let it show. I apologize!

KNOW-HOW
with Ladislav Pazdera

Ladislav Pazdera is not only a great guitarist who writes very beautiful music for our instrument, but also an extremely pleasant human being. Anyone who meets him quickly realizes that this is someone who makes music with real passion – and at the same time radiates a pleasant calm and openness. In the interpretation of his own pieces, he combines his technical skills with a fine sense of timbre and mood.

Ladislav recently played a self-organized small tour through Italy. We wanted to know how he organized it. Perhaps some of you are planning something similar. Thank you Ladislav for taking the time to answer our questions.

Hi Ladislav, you've just played a self-organized mini-tour through Italy! Including small, charming venues like a bookstore! What was special about this tour for you?
A lot, to be quite honest! There were 7 concerts in total, 5 of which took place in Italy. It was the first time that I had performed in Italy, and as I really like Italy, it was very nice for me personally to be able to play a small tour there. Since I deliberately chose cities like Rome, Florence and Siena, it was a very special experience in terms of the itinerary.

Did you like one of the locations in particular? Or can you tell us about a special moment?
All the locations were very different, so it's difficult to compare them. In the end, I don't really want to. But the first concert, which took place at the Six Bars Jail in Florence, was something special. It's a venue with a wonderful reputation among guitarists and I felt very comfortable there indeed. The audience was very warm and responsive. After the third concert, I realized that in Italy you get audiences like that at every concert, and that was definitely a wonderful moment for me.

How did you approach the planning and booking?
My approach was fairly classic. I had one concert that started the whole tour planning, and I organized the other concerts in such a way that everything worked well logistically and in terms of timing. The booking itself took place exclusively by email, as I don't speak Italian, so there was no room for misunderstanding. Google Translator was my best friend for the booking. :)

Looking back – did you have a good time, would you do it again and which country is next?
I had a wonderful time and I'm really looking forward to going back. I already have some dates in mind and as the organizers’ feedback was really good, another tour in Italy should follow soon. I would also love to play in Portugal or Spain, for example. Let's see how I can make that happen …

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?
Enjoy the music today, think about it tomorrow.

More about Ladislav Pazdera:
https://www.lpazdera.com/

FEEL-GOOD TUNE OF THE WEEK
with Alexander Liebermann

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

Thanks for reading! We have discovered a lot of new music and artists for ourselves again! Check out our playlist for the newsletter (link below).

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.