A Cure for the Common Fetish: The $100 Guitar Project
Classical Guitar Reviews, Classical Guitars (Buying, Care, Maintenence), Guitar CD Reviews
Most musicians (myself included) spend way too much time thinking, fantasizing, and obsessing over their instruments. Whether the object of desire is a vintage specimen or the latest contemporary fad, I have noticed a tendency in my own thinking to anticipate all kinds of tonal, musical, and practical improvements with the acquisition of the next […]
Read MoreInterview with Gyan Riley
Interviews with Classical Guitarists
Gyan Riley is active as a soloist, ensemble player, composer, and improviser in a wide variety of styles. We bounced off a few questions via email over the past weeks. CG.org: When did you start playing guitar, and what was your path to serious study? Gyan: I started playing guitar at age 12, when I […]
Read MoreA Double Eulogy: Celebrating Hans Werner Henze and Elliott Carter
Classical Guitar Repertoire, Editorials
Two giants of twentieth century music left us within a week of each other a few weeks ago. Hans Werner Henze died in Dresden, on October 26; Carter followed him within a ten-day, as he passed away at his NY home on November 5th, at the youthful age of 103. There have been excellent obits […]
Read MoreInterview with luthier Benz Tschannen
Classical Guitars (Buying, Care, Maintenence), Interviews with Classical Guitarists
Benz Tschannen is a Swiss-born guitar maker living in Fallon, Nevada. I sent him a few questions after first meeting him at the Sierra Nevada Guitar Festival this past summer. CG.org: What was your path to luthiery? How old were you when you started building guitars, and how did you move your first steps? BT: […]
Read MoreGreat Guitar Pieces Nobody Plays: James Tenney’s Septet (1981)
Classical Guitar Repertoire
The repertoire of American composer James Tenney (1934-2006) is among the most diverse and stimulating in experimental music. Tenney wrote several works using algorithmic procedure, yet always producing music of striking clarity and unassuming elegance. Most of his pieces explore aspects of sonority and resonance—the gradual change of musical parameters over time (e.g. textural or […]
Read MoreBattle of the Nocturnals
Musical Interpretation and Musicianship
Benjamin Britten’s Nocturnal after John Dowland is one of those rare pieces that almost single-handedly changed the history of an instrument: dedicatee Julian Bream’s premiere at the 1964 Aldeburgh festival made waves in the contemporary musical establishment, leading to top-flight composers writing several other substantial pieces in the following years. Almost fifty years after its […]
Read More[CD Review] Connie Sheu: The Woman’s Voice
Guitar CD Reviews
![[CD Review] Connie Sheu: The Woman’s Voice](https://www.classicalguitar.org/images/connie-sheu-the-womens-voice.jpeg "[CD Review] Connie Sheu: The Woman’s Voice")
Through the history of Western Classical music women have been dramatically underrepresented: consider that the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra has only been integrated from a gender standpoint for a whopping fifteen years. As far as composers go, historical surveys generally include but a handful—usually starting with Hildegard, maybe Barbara Strozzi, then skipping to Fanny Mendelssohn and […]
Read MoreKnow Your Worth
Music Business Tips
With few exceptions, many professional classical guitarists derive their income from a variety of sources—including private lessons, wedding/corporate kinds of gigs, and of course concerts. All of these situation require the artist to act also as a negotiator, discussing compensation, logistics, and terms with a varied array of client types (that is, unless the musician […]
Read More2012 GFA Competition Winners
Classical Guitar News
The Guitar Foundation of America convention, along with its international and youth competitions, just concluded last weekend. 2012 International Competition Winners First Place: Rovshan Mamedkuliev (Russia) Second Place: Celil Kaya (Turkey) Third Place: Silviu Ciulei (Romania/USA) Fourth Place: Ivan Sanchez Flores (Mexico) Watch Winner Rovshan Mamedkuliev Play Youth Competition Winners — Junior Division First Prize: […]
Read MoreDamage Control: Salvaging Torn Fingernails
Classical Guitar Fingernails
We’ve all done it. Something is falling, a box perhaps, and we reach out with our right hand and the worst happens. No, the box doesn’t just fall to the ground, it grazes the fingertips. That is when you notice that your ring finger nail is there… just feels weird. It is torn, not all […]
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