A few comments on Kaori Mujari's concert of 4/1 in S.F.
rcspross
I'll elaborate a bit on John's question of what I meant by a modern
style.
I call her playing modern because there is such an overwhelming number
of people executing the guitar at high artistic levels in this manner.
I would say she appeared to be mostly a strong free stroke player with
the occaisional rest stroke. Plus as noted about Ana Vidovic, she also
plays with a straight wrist on both hands.
She often used her right arm to assist in getting loud chords when
playing free stroke.
I finally surmised that she uses a downward back slice for her heavy
rest stroke thumb, but I'd bet she uses a flicking the tip motion for
her thumb strokes generally. But these are only educated guesses.
Anyway, that is what I observed about her mechanics.
As for her musicianship, it was stellar. Very clearly delineated use of
dynamics.
Her tonal pallette was based upon Julian Bream's example, so for
instance when she played over the fingerboard she got that transparent
woody sound.
Another aspect of Modernism, was the lack of a full warm tone. Mostly
she played on the brighter side. Her choices of repertoire however lent
themselves suitably to this.
For me the highlight of the evening was her rendition of Bach's
Chaconne.
I haven't heard it played any better since I heard John Williams play it
in his debut S.F. recital back in the 70's.
The audience however didn't seem particularly impressed.
She did recieve two encores and a standing ovation, but it was a
grudgingly
standing ovation, because the audience did not seem to be in complete
accord.
This may have had to do with the demographics of the evening, Mostly
middle aged and aged people with only a third being younger.
The piece which received the longest response was En Los Trigales
She played it well and it sounded very much like Bream.
JO mentioned the Carneval of Venice, which came off as kind of a musical
joke with all manner of trivial effects written in by Francisco Tarrega.
It didn't work well for me, because of her Bream like sound, shich
simply
doesn't match well with Tarrega and Llobet etc. imho.
She ended with Sueno en la Floresta by Barrios and played it
beautifully.
Her first encore was Tango en Skaii by Roland Dyens
The second one I didn't catch the name but it was slow peaceful
piece which provided an nice ending.
She returned at the last minute for one more bow. The audience
was already standing and about to leave, but they remained in place and
clapped. This was different from the earlier standings.
All in all I enjoyed the program.
The only thing missing was the old style..... reststrokes and warm tones
Not much Latin nor Spanish influence in this program. But despite that
it was well worth the effort.
She played with complete composure, and never looked rattled, nor
frustrated.
I would be hard pressed to find a single worthy finger slip to mention.
So for me it was a flawless performance.
The audience I might add, was for the most part on it's best behavior.
Most of the night one could hear a pin drop. Unfortunately there
were a few individuals who unwittingly coughed at endings.
I wanted to kill.....but of course they were out of sight in the upper
balconey.
I urge to you to spend your money. You won't be disappointed and you
will have a great time, listening to some superb playing by an
experienced
artist.
Richard Spross
John D. Rimmer
"rcspross" <rcsp...@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:4430A238...@pacbell.net...
>
> I'll elaborate a bit on John's question of what I meant by a modern
> style.
Thank you! Well done.
> For me the highlight of the evening was her rendition of Bach's
> Chaconne.
I'll hear Xeufei Yang play this on Wednesday.
John
John D. Rimmer
"John D. Rimmer" <jdr...@sbcglobal.nte> wrote in message
news:S31Yf.61680$H71....@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
looking forward to hearing her pronounce it.
John
JO
> She played with complete composure, and never looked rattled, nor
> frustrated.
> I would be hard pressed to find a single worthy finger slip to mention.
> So for me it was a flawless performance.
>
inconsequential. I too was surprised at the rather cool reception of the
Chaconne. It was not 100% flawless, but only a picky gutiarist would have
noticed the tiny errors. :-) Maybe the majority just wanted some cute
Spanish greatest hits.
Reg...@aol.com
He's been recording for Victor in Japan since he left the cradle.
ds
Sam Desmet
is there any chance I can hear some examples on the net of her playing?
It seems that her site is all in japanese or whatever language... since I
can't read it, I don't know where she's from,...
sam
<Reg...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1144062928.3...@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
rcspross
Reg...@aol.com wrote:
David,
She began her studies with her father at age three. I suppose that
would have been the age her younger brother started as well.
What shows so convincingly was her complete poise and calmness.
As noted previously there were occaisional detectable technique
moments, and the only reason for mentioning her falibility is to
ward off those nit pickers who might cry " foul". " I heard a missed
note or I heard a string squeak ya da ya da ya da. when the whole
presentation was in the 99% perfection range and even so there
never was a missed beat or hesitation. As far as I'm concerned
she has near to complete musical and technical command of what
she does.
My only regret is the lack of a warm tone. Segovia's derived from
a completely different pallete than Bream's. What I want to see in an
artist is one who can use, Segovia's contribution and Bream's
contribution,
timbre wise in one person and or even come up with some newer sounds
previously unheard.
Richard Spross
Isaac bustos
Here is a link to one of her concerts.
Enjoy!
IB
http://board4.cgiworld.dreamwiz.com/view.cgi?id=koh0130&now=1&jd=-1&ino=101&tmp_no=203
wf...@pacbell.net
rcspross wrote:
> My only regret is the lack of a warm tone. Segovia's derived from
> a completely different pallete than Bream's. What I want to see in an
> artist is one who can use, Segovia's contribution and Bream's
> contribution,
> timbre wise in one person and or even come up with some newer sounds
> previously unheard.
>
> Richard Spross
Richard,
To what do you attribute Segovia's tone, particularly in comparison to
Bream, and to the modern players?
I haven't listend to Segovia in a while; are there any particular
recordings of his that you recommend which provide good examples of his
use of tone color?
Thanks,
Bill
rcspross
wf...@pacbell.net wrote:
Bill,
Your request almost became lost in the past. I just happened today to look
back
at this thread and noticed a message upon it. I thought the subject was
dead.
No ill intentions.
Now to answer your question.
Well I would explain Segovia's tone as the conjunction of four factors:
His guitar, the mass of his hand, the shape of his nails and how he
combines
those elements.
He often played upon cedar topped instruments and according to Jose
Ramirez III
from his book about the Ramirez guitar, Segovia liked a guitar with a deep
bass
sound.
How that would affect his tone is this. Whilst playing with a strong deep
bass,
he would have a larger treble spectrum to lay above it, causeing the
treble
to sound clearly above the bass.
The mass of his hand also enabled him with the least amount of work to
displace
the string as much as he wanted so his guitar would project out at a
considerable
distance.
The shape of his nails with his broad finger tips allowed for a wide range
of timbre
within a fixed position, which he could accent by playing ponticello.
Most of the Decca recordings in Lp format are worth listening to. I own
many of
them although not all. Here are three that stimulated my imagination.
Decca Lp. DL 8022
Decca LP DL 710140
MCA 2520 MCA bought out Decca I think sometime in the 70's.
Bream differentiated himself from Segovia by the use of spruce topped
instruments
principly built to his order. He has helped many people get their start in
Lutherie.
I have been told by a reliable source that he won't evne look at any
instrument that
weighs more than 3 lbs.
Again it is still the same combination of factors that make up a players
tone.
Bream decided he could exploit the timbre by moving the right hand around
a lot particularly playing sul tasto ( over the fingerboard ) to get that
woody
etheral sound. Other sounds he gets come about through the shape of his
nails,
which tend to bend backward, and from what I've seen at distance are not
particularly
wide. When I auditioned for him for a masterclass he kept his nails tucked
into the
center of his hands so that they couldn't be observed.
So in his case it is a subtle balance of the elements that leads to his
sound.
However it seems that somehow a broad spectrum of younger players have
cottoned on to the ability to imitate his tone color through playing free
stroke
a great deal.
Of course the three elements are the determining factor in getting close
to such
tone colors.
As for the younger players there has been a dearth of reststroke
application over
the past 30 years and that also impacts the nature of their timbre.
Kind of like playing a violin by bowing only one direction. The range is
going
to lose some of the character that a playing both directions will offer.
So if the rest stroke is delegated to a sometimes for effect usage, I
believe it
basically will not be of much consequence in the out come of the music.
Why? Because if a warm tone is used as the dramatic alternative, towards
as
audience which has been saturated with lighter brighter range, the warm
tone
will sound flat and uneventful.
The reason Segovia's sound was so penetrating was that his use of the warm
and deep bass allowed a more muted background as the norm, thus when he
returned to the bright side it was like seeing a spotlight suddenly
focused
upon the musical passage. This would arouse the audience's perception and
draw their attention more earnestly to listen.
I hope that offers some insights.
Richard Spross
wf...@pacbell.net
Thank you for taking the time to compose such a thorough and detailed
answer.
My teacher is definitely a modern, and often speaks of Bream as a model
for use of tone color. After two years of free stroke, we are only now
beginning to add rest stroke for some scale runs in a couple of Turina
pieces.
It's funny; I posted my question 9 days ago, and it didn't show up. I
didn't want to double post, and waited, and eventually gave up.
Anyway, thanks for all the food for thought - lot's of listening to do.
Bill
rcspross
wf...@pacbell.net wrote:
As I said, I had left that thread, and so I missed your post and then
by chance yesterday I went back to see if there was anything new,
and Lo and Behold there was your question. I apologize for the delay.
It was a great question and I wrote it not only for you, but for the
edification of others interested.
All best,
Richard Spross.
BTW. I teach rest stroke first, and then free stroke, which I believe
allows for the free stroke to be immediately applied once introduced.
But who am I to quibble. If others get wonderful results doing it
differently, so be it.
And about tone color, I think the new player must use all
possibilities imaginable. Remember,, these high profile artists must
create a recognizable sound in order to assist the sales of their
recordings and to make them become a "product". By so doing
they automatically constrict the range of choices available and
that also impacts the character of the music some what detrimentally.
This concept is pretty abstract, because it assumes that if a player had
all possibilities at his/her disposal they would know how to optimize
their potential. Optimal playing requires daring and thinking out side
of the norm and we musicians are as a rule fairly conservative in our
tastes and humble in our traditions.
Of course a large body of us are exploring what we here in the United
States of America call "new music" and that group of musicians organized
by that nomiker, market themselves as such to the public. The number
of Classical Guitarists participating are small indeed.
Glad you found my first response.
Good luck with your lessons and your practice.
Richard Spross
panos
wf...@pacbell.net wrote:
> Richard,
>
> Thank you for taking the time to compose such a thorough and detailed
> answer.
>
> My teacher is definitely a modern, and often speaks of Bream as a model
> for use of tone color. After two years of free stroke, we are only now
> beginning to add rest stroke for some scale runs in a couple of Turina
> pieces.
Really? My teacher showed me both right away and I am to practice both
ways on most of my exercises {Parkening}. Did you have previous guitar
experience before your CG lessons?
-kristina
wf...@pacbell.net
I had taken a couple of lessons with another teacher, and had worked
through the first Sagreras book on my own, so I was somewhat familiar
with both strokes.
I asked my teacher about the absence of rest stroke work a while back,
and he said something to the effect that the free stroke can do just
about everything the rest stroke can, but is more versitile. He said we
would add the free stroke when we started on the Spanish repertoire for
fast scale runs. Once or twice while we are working on a piece, he's
said "I would play that note with a rest stroke." But 99.99% of the
time it's free stroke.
This all refers to the fingers, by the way - the only time I don't use
thumb rest stroke is when the string that the thumb would land on needs
to ring through. This is the result of some flamenco lessons, and my
classical teacher hasn't complained.
I recall reading somewhere that one or both of the Assad brother never
use rest stroke.
Bill
dave payne
right, who's the culprit?
(looking up, way up...)
Hah, now I've got you! Come here and let me sh...
...
...
Richard?!!
RICHARD???!!!!!!
Well, I never!
:)
Dave Payne,
wuxiaoxin_a t_rogers_do t_com
rcspross
dave payne wrote:
David????
What the hell are you talking about???
I was bored just now, and so I kept looking back and came across
this post of two weeks ago with your inexplicable comment?
Richard Spross
Kent Murdick
Two things, good technique and big fat finger tips. I've taught two
students in my life that had the Segovia tone but they both (I think)
eventually quit. Neither, BTW, understood or appreiciated what they
could do.
dave payne
> David????
>
> What the hell are you talking about???
>
> I was bored just now, and so I kept looking back and came across
> this post of two weeks ago with your inexplicable comment?
Put it down as another one of my pathetic attempts at achieving humor
through being ridiculous. I'll try not to let it happen again. I was
referring to the interchange of the 3rd and 5th letters of Murajisan's
name that lingered through the headers of 14 different posts, which my
scanning eyeballs found as jarring as the spelling of "Parkening" in the
header of my message (I switched to "Parkening" solely for its being
perhaps a more recognizable name in these parts).
rcspross
MY DYSLEXIA KICKED IN AND I TRANSPOSED
THE LETTERS . IT SHOULD HAVE READ.. KAORI MURAJI
Somebody should have spoken up right away.
Thanks,
richard spross