Hey!

We are looking forward to spring while enjoying the snowy-wintry vibes in Berlin. Everything is a little different this year, and everything’s a little different for us, too, in today's 40th edition of this newsletter. On the one hand, we are celebrating our anniversary with a compilation of all the answers to the poster question from the last few editions. On the other hand, we would like to thank Duke Guitars for making it possible to keep the newsletter free for everyone through their support. It's nice to be able to recommend things that we ourselves like. That's why we've included a short report from our visit to Duke in the southern city of Tübingen in today's issue. What's more, this week's video is from us – a little birthday present from us to you.

Otherwise, everything remains the same. And if there's one thing you can count on, it's that you'll continue to receive an issue in your digital mailbox every two weeks, and of course it will remain free of charge. All that's left for us to do is thank you – for reading, recommending, spreading the word, and for the great support and ever-growing community!

Enjoy the read,
Stefan und Willi

YOUTUBE FIND OF THE WEEK
with TMBM

Admittedly, it's not really a discovery this time, because you can’t discover something you've made yourself. However, we have definitely found new artistic ideas and the enthusiasm to write music for a new album. So yes: there will be a new record from us this year, and it will be more conceptual than the first one. No further spoilers for now, except to say that the piece in the video will be on it. It's called “The Painting.” We hope you like it and look forward to your feedback. Working on a new album is always a new beginning, a risk, and a journey into the unknown. And we have just embarked on this journey once again.

VISITING
Duke Guitars

On December 5, we were at Duke Guitars in Tübingen, southern Germany, for a video session (see above). But the part that stuck with us the most came after the shoot: a tour of the workshop, the (wood) warehouse, and the showroom. It quickly became clear to us that this is not just about guitars, but also about issues that are becoming increasingly important in instrument making.

Before we got an insight into the fine tuning process, from adjusting the string action to polishing, we first landed at a topic that is currently a hot one at Duke: thermal modification of tonewoods. There is a long-term goal behind this. Moving away from exotic imports and toward domestic woods that are so reliable in terms of sound and workability that they can compete with the common tropical woods used in guitar making. Some of these modified domestic woods are already being used, while further research is being conducted, with scientific support from Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, among others. And it's not just theory: company owner Gunther Reinhardt is regularly out and about, visiting forests, going to auctions and buying wood, looking for suitable pieces, storing and sorting them, and has spent decades studying the thermal treatment of these very woods until they become material that can be worked with.

The daily routine at Duke's workshop, as we had the opportunity to see, is still independent of this. A large proportion of the instruments are manufactured in China according to detailed specifications and regular optimization. The point at which the workshop in Tübingen comes in is the finalization. This is exactly what guitar maker Tico showed us, step by step and in a very calm and friendly manner. In the morning, they open the windows, plan the day, sort orders, and allocate machine time among the team. Then, each instrument passes through the hands of two guitar makers. Dressing the frets, refiling the upper and lower saddles, and repairing small paint marks – tiny imperfections that can occur during transport. Then the polish, followed by a wafer-thin protective coating and new strings. Clean playability, clean appearance.

The idea behind it is simple, but not trivial. A Duke should feel good and reliable in the store without having to be reworked with tools. It's about repeatability in the feel of the instrument and control over the final stretches. We saw how much time goes into work steps and hand movements that are difficult to describe later. But they are immediately noticeable when you pick up the guitar. This workshop does not claim to make every guitar a unique piece: here, the aim is to finish each guitar so that it does its job reliably from the very first minute. Since we also had the pleasure of playing two Duke guitars for the video session, we can say that guitars of this quality, playability, and sound development are certainly hard to find at this price point. This definitely makes them an interesting choice for ambitious guitarists.

You can find the two models we are playing in the video here:
DUKE – Meister ST
DUKE – Meister C

ALBUM OF THE WEEK
with Raphaël Feuillâtre

Hypothesis: Legato playing is the queen of all disciplines. Across all instruments, of course. But playing the guitar in particular requires a lot of it if an interpretation is to sound like more than “just” guitar. It creates a feeling of well-being when listening and acts like glue for phrases, condensing the sound and creating a pull forward.
 
Why are we talking about this? Because it stood out to us when listening to today's album.

Raphaël Feuillâtre has mastered this art down to the smallest detail. Voice separation at its finest, connected by – exactly: legato. He makes demanding passages with several independently running voices sound completely in the service of the music, without leaving any door open for even the slightest mental objection that it sounds “difficult.” 

Visages Baroques is the name of the album we’re looking at. In addition to the fact that the composers share the same era, there is another common thread running through the record: all are original works for piano or harpsichord. Bach, Rameau, Duphly, Forqueray ...

The self-arranged “L'aimable” (Pièces de clavecin, No. 6) by Pancrace Royer and “L'entretien des muses” (RCT 3/6) by Jean-Philippe Rameau (arr. Gizard) particularly drew us into Raphaël's sound world and interpretative skills. But – to be honest – the whole record is a treat for both ears and soul. 

Sit back, enjoy, and let it work its magic!

MORNING-ROUTINE
A coffee with Leon Albert

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

Dealing with mood swings.

INTERVIEW

“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?”

Question 5 …

with Stephan Kane
“Practice Makes Progress and Progress Makes Me Practice.” (Issue 31)

with Heiner Donath
“Music is more than an accumulation of correctly played notes.” (Issue 32)

with Flavio Nati
“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” – Leonard Bernstein (Issue 34)

with Johannes Frank
“Embrace art for it is the fuel of joy.” (Issue 36)

with Mercè Font
“Be patient with time, but demanding with intention.” (Issue 39)

FEEL-GOOD TUNE OF THE WEEK
with MGT

Whether it’s between rehearsals and lessons, after practicing, before a concert, or whenever you need it: put on your headphones, take a break from the noise, and feel good.

Our feel-good tune of the week!

OUTRO

Thank you for reading! Please send any suggestions or comments directly in response to this newsletter. In the next issue – we can reveal this much – there will be an interview with Thomas Fellow.

New music discoveries – including from artists we wrote about in today's issue – can be found, as always, in our Spotify playlist for the newsletter, which we've linked below.

Be kind to each other.

Stay tuned!

Stefan & Willi

supported by

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.