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Grisha -> RE: Question for Grisha (Apr. 18 2005 4:41:37)
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Hello, everyone!
Thank you so much for your kind words about my playing! It really means a lot!
Todd:
I was 25 when I played La Barrosa, and it was one of my New England Conservatory recitals. I remember I was in a good mood that night because I had some good friends in the audience. I played about hour and a half worth of my transcriptions of famous flamenco solos, and I have the whole second half of the concert recorded, including Monasterio de Sal, Cepa Andaluza, Oracion by Manolo Sanlucar, Morente by Vicente Amigo and other pieces. I chose La Barrosa and Guajiras because I really enjoyed playing them that time. Unfortunately I had that memory lapse towards the end of La Barrosa, and couldn't hide it very well. You notice that I get out of rhythm. Oh well...
For flamenco I used a guitar made by Russian maker Georgy Babichev. Its sound is somewhere in the middle between classical and flamenco, having a good range of tone colors but also some bite when you need it. It's not very loud and has to be amplified. I don't have a good Spanish flamenco guitar.
For classical I use a guitar by a young American maker Stephan Connor ( www.connorguitars.com ), which I got last month. This is by far the best classical guitar I've ever had and one of the very best I've heard. Steve is a fantastic maker and is surely going to be famous very soon.
Sorin:
I really did play for Paco de Lucia in December 1994. I was in Spain giving some concerts, and got invited to play for him in his house in Madrid. That was one of the most memorable moments of my life. I was really nervous. I played 3 pieces for him: Bulerias by Sabicas (the same one that is on my website), Punta Umbria and Fuente y Caudal. He was really nice to me and said good things about my playing. He actually remembered me from a TV program he saw in 1991, when I became a finalist of a UNICEF competition in Holland. He told me that I have to live in Spain. But that never happened.
Paco was pretty much the same as he was in the Solo, Duo, Trio video. When I came to his house he was recording in his basement studio, some slow piece, I didn't hear much of it because he stopped when I came in. I remember him doing really fast exercises with his right hand (without the guitar). I asked him why he was doing it, and he told me that he'd recently injured his right hand doing some (caza submarina?) but he was getting better and it didn't affect his playing.
To all the nice people who posted on my website but got no answer:
Please accept my most sincere apologies! I was going to answer all of you in detail, but wanted to do a good job because it would stay on my website for all to see. I felt it was my duty to write something very smart and helpful and in good English. And for that I needed time and inspiration, and I didn't really have those things, and people posted more questions, and after a while I became scared to even start... But I promise that one day I'll answer all of your questions because it really means a lot to me to see that you are interested in what I have to say. Thank you all!
Grisha
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