Hey!

What does music have to do with eternity? What can we gain from the feeling of going around in circles? And how do you get into that “in the zone” feeling – one that’s surely familiar to everyone involved in music?

Well, we hope to provide a few helpful insights into these questions in today’s issue. We’re also excited to feature a miniature piece aptly titled “Clouds & Sun” for this time of year, as always by our miniature expert Leon Albert. And: We’ve got an exciting classical guitarist, Yulia Belova, answering our questions – someone we’d love to recommend to you.

We wish you a wonderfully musically fulfilling time and hope you find some inspiration in this issue.

Enjoy the read!

Warm wishes,
Stefan and Willi

YOUTUBE FIND OF THE WEEK
with Cenk Erdoğan

You probably know that moment when you’re completely absorbed in something and so “in the zone” that it feels like it could go on forever.

If you’re not big fans of that, we recommend you skip today’s YouTube find ;)

With his fretless guitar, Cenk Erdogan creates an enchanting space of timelessness.
From the sound to the phrasing to the delicately sparkling embellishments… We’re simply spellbound!

Treat yourselves to this little break!!

ALBUM OF THE WEEK
with Ahmed Dickinson Cárdenas

Even though we all mostly prefer to avoid it, sometimes we just end up going around in circles.

The first track on Ahmed Dickinson Cárdenas’ latest album, Portraits for Guitar, feels to us like a short story about that feeling. With moments of a charming, tongue-in-cheek spirit ;)

“Cuaderno de viaje No. 5” by Walfrido Dominguez comes across as refreshingly light with its six shorter pieces. The pentatonic, sometimes groovy flow immediately transported us to a carefree in-between world.

A beautiful collection of compositions that enrich the repertoire for our most favorite instrument.

Be sure to give it a listen!

MORNING-ROUTINE
A coffee with Leon Albert

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

The sky can only clear up, even if it's cloudy sometimes.

INTERVIEW

4 Questions, 4 Answers, 4 Facial Expressions with: Yulia Belova

THINGS WE COME ACROSS …

Have you ever had times when you were fully busy with things that had nothing to do with actually playing your instrument? As musicians, we’re sometimes not just musicians, but also project managers, part-time social media managers, bookers, keyboard acrobats on the email front, or virtuosos at technical concert planning – and sometimes so much more. But: When, after such a phase – just before the release of a new album – the period of intensive practice and rehearsals begins, all the other tasks take a back seat, and you suddenly realize why you did all that and what it’s really all about: the music.

That’s exactly where we are right now. On December 4, we’ll be celebrating the release of our second LP, Symphonia of Encounters, with a release concert at the Maschinenhaus at Kulturbrauerei Berlin – and preparations for it are now entering the home stretch! Sure, there are still plenty of other projects going on at the same time, but the concert is our main focus.

Still, if you’re organizing concerts or festivals, we’d be happy to accept invitations for 2027. In the meantime, we wish you some wonderful autumn days, and if you’re releasing an album this year, please let us know so we can give it the recognition it deserves here in the newsletter!

OUTRO

Thank you for reading! Feel free to send any suggestions or comments directly in response to this newsletter. 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

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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.