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Ricardo Gallen is a Spanish guitarist that currently teaches in Weimar, Germany. Apart from being an excellent musician, he has several unique approaches to playing and teaching the guitar, which we discuss in this in-depth interview.
You can find out more about Ricardo at his website:
As for the challenge I mentioned in the introduction, here it is:
Ricardo and I talked about the importance of listening to, becoming familiar with, some greats of western classical music. So, I will put three pieces below that are cornerstones of repertory. To really enjoy these, I recommend purchasing a recording and setting aside some time to really immerse yourself. But, if a youtube version is what you would prefer, I will put some links below. They are long pieces, so you might want to make some time for yourself, and enjoy the full performance.
If you do take me up on this challenge I would love to hear any thoughts or reflections below.
Ludwig Van Beethoven, Missa Solemnis
Frederic Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1
J.S. Bach, B Minor Mass
Ricardo Gallen: a musician’s guitarist. I’ve been obsessing over his peerless Bach recording for a while now, so thank you for this insightful interview, Simon.
Great interview – beautiful person, brilliant player, his BWV 998 Prelude performance is beyond words.
I regularly do listen to classical music.
I like to experience what would be like living on those early periods of civilization, by listening to the sounds created by the great composers.
With Chopin, I find it hard to place myself to any period. I have listened to that music before. Hard to swallow, but not giving up on it.
Maybe too modern/contemporay.
Cheers.
I understand the frustration of a music teacher who realises that most of his students don’t have the background he would expect. Nonetheless, for us, musician Amateurs, And especially guitarists, I think it is already hard enough to get to know our own repertoire, that knowing the rest is almost impossible.
Besides, It’s easy to get overwhelmed and drown if diving into the classical pool without any guidance. So I would love Having a space where we could have access to those western classical cornerstones.
Cheers,
Pitchou.
No I lied. Actually we just need to get our nose off our guitar and start exploring music in general.
It just took me while to realise that the classical guitar wouldn’t be an art by itself without classical music in the first place.
And I tend to enjoy even more the art of the guitar now that I understand where it comes from.
Cheers,
Pitchou
Thanks Simon. Great podcast! I was fortunate to see Ricardo perform, as well as delivering a masterclass at the 2016 Adelaide Guitar Festival. At the masterclass I was struck by his use of the keyboard in making points about the music being performed by the participants. This added a deeper understanding of the music played on that day. Also I noted an ongoing theme in making guitar playing much more biomechanically efficient.
At the festival he played the premier of Leo Brouwer’s piece called ‘Austral’, which was mesmerizing!