Month April 2013

Sound Portals (soundports) for Classical Guitar

My experience with soundports: Sound portals are a bit strange at first because you’ll hear a whole new range of overtones, not to mention a volume increase while you play. However, I find it a bit odd because who ever…

Cedar vs Spruce Tops: tonewoods for classical guitar

Also see this page: Classical Guitars for Sale and Recommend Factory Guitars Since I’m a player and not a luthier I will fill out this article with quotes from reputable luthiers and guitarists. Sometimes these quotes can be out of…

Gabriel Bianco plays Turina

Amazing playing by the excellent Gabriel Bianco . I love his clean playing, control over the sound, and highly expressive performance. He is great at pacing himself and making certain moments very special. Gabriel Bianco plays mov.1 from Sonata Op.61 for guitar…

Tariq Harb plays Giuliani’s Gran Sonata Eroica, Op.150

I’ve featured Tariq Harb on Classical Guitar Canada on many occasions but rarely here on this is classical guitar.  He’s excellent and certainly a one of my favorite upcoming professional guitarists who’s been taking competitions by storm. He also has…

Gerald Garcia – Etudes Esquisses

One of my favorite recommendations for contemporary works are these excellent etudes from Gerald Garcia. These etudes, as the composer suggests, are for the intermediate student from the third year of study onward (I would move that down to one…

Angelo Gilardino: Studi di virtuosità e di trascendenza

Angelo Gilardino‘s Studi di virtuosità e di trascendenza. Although the compositional style is very pattern-oriented and guitaristic the etudes are filled with a huge wealth of musical ideas. Each one has a dedication and resembles the style of the dedicati…

The German Baroque: Wolff Jakob Lauffensteiner

Theme of this week:  The German Baroque (click to see all posts). Wolff Jakob Lauffensteiner (1676–1754) is the last composer I’ll feature on this week’s theme of the German Baroque. His music, as his wiki page suggests, is similar to Weiss in many ways.…

The German Baroque: Bernhard Joachim Hagen

Theme of this week:  The German Baroque. Bernhard Joachim Hagen (1720–1787) wrote some amazing works of beauty that are not often played. One reason for this is the unavailability of this works. To my knowledge there are no readily available editions in modern…

The German Baroque: Adam Falckenhagen

Theme of this week:  The German Baroque (click to see all posts). Adam Falckenhagen  (26 April 1697 – 6 October 1754) was a German lutenist and composer. He travelled around from court to court much of his life but eventually settled in Bayreuth. It has also…

The German Baroque: Sylvius Leopold Weiss

New to the site: Theme of the Week. I’ll be posting articles, links, and videos based on the theme. There will still be other posts such as lessons etc, but the theme will add a narrative to the week. To…