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10 questions asked by Louise Rodgers, published in
Veritas to mark the first performance of The Alternative Guitar
at the Queens Hall in Edinburgh, May 2007, which featured the premiere
of Kenneth Dempster's Sanctum .
(Read the ***** review of this concert
here)
1. Tell me about Cuba
I played a series of 4 concerts in
Havana, Cuba in 2001. I was chosen to represent Glasgow (I
was studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and
Drama at the time, doing my MMus) for the occasion of
Glasgow's twinning with Havana. It was a fantastic trip
as it is a very unusual country, very musical and the people
are very friendly. I met and played for Fidel Castro's
brother Ramòn (Finance Minister) and composer Leo Brouwer,
probably the greatest living composer for guitar, which was
a real highlight. One of the pieces I played for Leo Brouwer
was his own Variations on a theme by Django Reinhardt,
which is part of the forthcoming Queens Hall programme
The Alternative Guitar.
2. Do you think its fair to say
that hot countries have cool guitar music?
Er, not necessarily.... However, it's
fair to say that most Hispanic/Latin countries have
fantastic guitar music, particularly Brazil, Spain, Cuba and
Argentina.
3. What's the difference between
rock guitar and the styles you play?
Good question. Well, electric guitar is
a quite limited stylistically in comparison to classical
guitar. I play a diversity of music that a rock musician
probably couldn't even comprehend. To give you an idea of
the range of music I perform, my solo repertoire alone
ranges from Renaissance lutenist John Dowland, Latin
American folk music, Baroque sonatas, pieces written
especially for me by Scotland's foremost composers of today,
one of the most violent two minutes of music ever composed,
by an Argentinean composer, music from the time of Chopin
and Liszt, a piece for guitar and digital delay and guitar
by an Australian composer, originally written for a garage
rock band...and so on. If I also say I have a duo, ¡Canto vivo!, with
opera singer Claire Debono (a fellow Napier alumni) and
that I recently founded a cross genre collaboration called
Camerata Ritmata with three of Scotland's finest
jazz musicians (including Napier bass tutor Mario Caribe)
you can see that its pretty varied.
Another huge difference is that
classical guitar is generally a self accompanied instrument.
Whereas a rock guitarist needs a band, a classical guitarist
has to imply a melody, accompaniment and bass line...
simultaneously! Therefore the music is much more
challenging, emotionally and technically. That's the main
reason an electric guitarist uses a plectrum and a classical
guitarist uses all his fingers to pluck the strings. There's
also the closeness of the performer's body to the sound on
an acoustic classical guitar, whereas the sound of an
electric guitar comes from an amplifier, a mechanical box.
4. Have playing techniques changed
over the last ten years?
In the last 10 years not a huge amount,
as that's a very short period of time. Over the last thirty
years they have a lot. The classical guitar has only existed
in its present form since the late 1700s so, in comparison
to many other instruments, its technique is quite young and
there is still quite a bit development to come, I think.
5. You're a highly qualified
musician, so why have you collaborated with Ken Dempster
instead of writing the new work 'Sanctum' yourself?
Well, the first thing to say is that,
whether I composed or not I would still ask Ken to write me
music as he is great composer whose music I love and
who writes very well for the instrument, which is rare.
As to why I don't compose, the reason is
very simple. I used to love composing and actually treated
it as a second study during my undergraduate days, studying
with Ken. However, as a freelance guitarist I have a lot of
pressures on my time from teaching to updating my website,
writing press releases, generally promoting myself, deciding
future projects... oh yeah, and practicing 5-6 hours a day!
Therefore, I just don't have the time, which is quite sad.
6. Are any influences apparent in
'Sanctum'?
I'm not sure I would pinpoint influences
but what I would say is that Sanctum is a very dramatic
work, full of mercurial contrasts from tender to impassioned
to aggressive. It has quite an improvisatory, stream of
consciousness feel to it. Although obviously written by a
present day composer it is also a particularly emotionally
charged piece that allows the performer to communicate very
directly to an audience, not unlike a work from the Romantic
period. I think it is a major addition to the repertoire and
have no doubt it will be in my repertoire for a long time.
7.How did you resolve any
differences of opinion during the compositional process?
The old fashioned way... we stripped
down to our boxers and wrestled like sumos. Only joking.
There were no differences of opinion! When I played the
piece to Ken for the first time we discussed a couple of
very minor details that he decided to tweak, but that was
all. For the piece to fit so well on the instrument speaks
volumes about Ken's knowledge of and feel for the
instrument.
8. What inspires you as a
performer?
Hmmm... this is where I should get all
pretentious and talk about sunrises and waterfalls.
Witnessing a great performance. Playing
well. The energy of a packed audience. Talking to audience
members after a performance. Seeing a student progress and
do well. Beauty in all its manifestations... I can feel a
soliloquy to a sunrise coming on so will stop there.
9. Do instruments have
personalities?
If you are asking me if I talk to my
guitar, call it by a name, let it watch its favourite TV
programme, sleep with it, etc, then no, as that would be a
strong sign of illness. If you are asking if all instruments
are different and distinctive then yes, of course as at some
point it was a centuries old tree and therefore a product of
nature.
10. What's next for you?
After the Queens Hall I'll be playing
The Alternative Guitar all over Scotland: Peebles to Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow, Fife and many other
places. I'll also be performing with ¡Canto vivo! and
touring the Highlands with Camerata Ritmata. By the
time I've done all that I'll no doubt be working on my next
project... whatever that may be.
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