Classical Guitar Alive online episodes update

[TonyMorris]

Greetings to all,

There are now 28 episodes of the Classical Guitar Alive! radio program online, available to hear anytime. Just click on the below link, and then look for the <Listen Online Now> icon:

http://www.guitaralive.org/playlist.html

Some recently added episodes:

"Murphy's Law"- harrowing tales of guitarists' crises, and interviews with Leo Brouwer, Ricardo Cobo, Liona Boyd, and also Stephen Marchionda, who tells of an embarassing moment with Princess Diana in 1995.

"Rising Stars 2007"- interview with Xuefei Yang, and music by Canada's HK Duo, a work by composer Richard Smoot, and a new commission performed by the Red Cedar Trio.

Your feedback (comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc.) are always welcomed and encouraged.

Best wishes to all,

Tony

Tony Morris, Executive Producer
Classical Guitar Alive! radio program
Celebrating 10 years of national broadcasts in the USA and Canada

Now also broadcast twice weekly throughout in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Western Europe via WorldSpace Satellite Radio's Maestro channel #224:
Saturdays at 1200 GMT
Sundays at 0000 GMT

http://www.guitaralive.org

MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/classicalguitaralive


Guitarist, Viva Trio
http://www.myspace.com/vivatrio

Guitar Instructor, Texas Lutheran University

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Tony, I love the show and as someone who worked in radio for about 8 years I know the deal when it comes to trying to please the most people in regards to programming and by and large feel that you or who ever is doing the programming is doing a fine job considering the syndicated formats that CGL is on.

But as a CG player I will say that I personally am not crazy about most orchestral pairings with CG (I know it is not every show). While the guitar is very capable of playing classical music it will IMO never be an instrument that will pair well with an orchestra. The guitars low volume and projection means that most orchestral arrangements are point counterpoint trading off between the orchestra and the guitar. To me the mix is never good, it sounds to me like the composer had to stop everything and allow the quite guitar it’s few seconds before the orchestra can start again. There are some very nice pieces that are orchestral with guitar and I am sure that I will take some verbal bashing for saying this but it is just my opinion.

I do understand however that the classical listening community as a whole wants to have the complexity and majesty of an orchestra or ensemble and programs that predominantly features solo (or duet) classical guitar would likely not be good for the book (and I am sure you all do testing). I understand why and how the programming decisions are made, I just wanted to say how I felt about the many orchestral pieces that feature some CG mixed in.

Keep up the great work.
-JH

[TonyMorris]

Hi Jonny,

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it very much.

Guitar with orchestra presents all kinds of problems of balance, but I don't think a guitar concerto necessarily be built on artifice. After all, there were guitar concertos in the 19th Century, pre-amplification (Giuliani, Carulli, etc.). And even before that, most Baroque orchestras had lute and theorbo players.

My engineer, Jeff Blair, and I talk about avoiding the "two ton guitar", which is, mixing the guitar so that it is heard, but not to the point where it sounds like, .. well, you know what.

As far as programming goes, human ears crave variety, so that's why each episode features a contrasting mix of solo guitar music, guitar ensembles, chamber music with guitar and other instruments, and orchestral music with guitar, along with at least one interesting interview snippet. It's not always possible to do that in every show, but that's the goal.

Assuming I finish in time, this week's show doesn't have a concerto, but it does have 2 large chamber works (flute & guitar) and (cello & guitar). A radio program featuring an hour of solo guitar every week would get very boring very quickly, except to a very small, die-hard group of guitar enthusiasts.

Btw, I recently saw Pepe Romero in concert, and he played the Vivaldi D concerto without amplification, with a smaller orchestra, and he was heard fine. He then played the Aranjuez with a larger orchestra, and was subtly amplified, and it was equally great.

Thanks again for you note, I appreciate and respect your opinion.

cheers,

Tony