vara Blog | New York Guitar Festal APOIGNANT RETURN TO BACH: PEPE ROMERO INTERVIEWED BY WILLIAM KANENGISER nemerkguitarfestv.orgitog/193 BLOG uMvaria Blog | New York Guitar Festal (http d/newyorkguitarfes tival.files wordpress.com/2010/01 /bach_music.gif) nemerkguitarfestv.orgitog/193 2varia Blog | New York Guitar Festal fingerings. |try to do it so that certain notes ring over other notes, to bring out the harmonies and voices that are already there. If you finger it right on the guitar, you can doa lotto keep the: contrapuntal movement that even the cello has a dificult ime doing. Then you getthe idea of two or three voices happening in one line WK: So, there's no need fo add anything, because it’s all there. PR: Yes, it's all already there! WK: | suppose we could say that Bach's music, maybe more than any other composer's, seems to have complete universality, timelessness and perfection atits core. Is there any way to explain the miracle of Bach's music? PR: I think of Bach as a "secular evangelist’, The evangelist of all religions. | feel that Bach's music is directlythe sound of God, in which ever way you want of think of God WK: For you, what's the biggest challenge of preparing and performing a recital like this? PR: | don't prepare it any differentthan | prepare anything else. | think the biggest challenge in preparing anything, for a recital, for a recording, Is to keep a balance. To keep a balance between how much you practice it, and how you keep itfresh. How you keep your interest, your desire alive, while you soothe your thoughts ofl didn’t prepare enough”. And | think this balance is the biggestchallenge. In mycase, thatproblem takes care ofilself, because I'm so busy with so manyprojects. So, the big challenge for me is finding enough time. And for me, | love to play concerts, but above all, Ilove to practice. | am a born. WK: Masochist! PR: Masochist! (laughs). No, | love the relationship between the music and myself when lam preparing it. Then, when you come out on the stage and you playit, it's the time to release all that experience that has taken place between the music and yourself, So, if you don'thavw a great time preparing it, playing the concert itself won't be that fulfilling. WK: It makes me think that of those sand mandalas made by Tibetan monks: they rub tiny bits of grain into a pattern; it takes them weeks to make this beautiful creation, they stand back and admire it, and then they sweep it away. And isn't music-making similar in a way? You have fo spend so much time preparing it, you have to do itwith concentration, and with love, and it’s there to be enjoyed. But just fora brief moment, PR: | fee! that I’m the mandala, itself, rather than the one making it! | was born to be a guitarist, and a musician, and when my time comes: whhht! Theywill blow it away, and there | go, offin the ether! WK: Not for a very long time, | hopel! This question isnt just about this program, butany concert you play: what is your wish for the audience to come away with after experiencing this recital? PR: | wantthem to come away feeling happy, feeling good. Having spent time away from their problems, from what troubles them. Music makes us communicate through our soul, and if you can leave the theatre feeling that connection, that's what |want more than anything WK: That's the highest goal of an artist, isn'tit? To bring some joy, or peace, or contentment, and to give people something to focus on that takes them away from their problems? PR: That's right, and | wish that for all my listeners. newyorkgutarfestel ogitog/193vara Blog | New York Guitar Festval PEPE ROMERO (/TAGS/PEPE-ROMERO) J.S. BACH (/TAGS/JS-BACH) WILLIAM KANENGISER (/TAGSIWILLIAM-KANENGISER) CHACONNE (/TAGSICHACONNE) CELEDONIO ROMERO (/TAGS/CELEDONIO-ROMERO) PARTITA(/TAGSIPARTITA) GABOR RAITO (/TAGSIGABOR-RAITO) LAGQ (/TAGS/LAGQ) DAVID SPELMAN (/TAGS/DAMID- SPELMAN) BROOKFIELD PLACE WINTER GARDEN (/TAGS/BROOKFIELD-PLACE-WINTER- GARDEN) IPHONE (/TAGS/IPHONE) VIOLAPOMPOSA (/TAGSIVIOLA-POMPOSA) SAND MANDALAS (/TAGS/SAND-MANDALAS) TIBETAN MONKS (/TAGS/TIBETAN-MONKS) SHARE EYE ~ (ntip:iWwww.addthis.com bookmark. php?v=2508 pubid= 4e7af76e6b 139963) nemerkguitarfestv.orgitog/193 a4