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Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RE: Angel Romero playing a Hermann H... (in reply to jg7238)
Thanks for posting this video of Angel Romero, Juan. Viewing this made me reflect on a performance I attended 45 years ago, in 1971 in Phoenix, Arizona, featuring Angel's father and patriarch of the Romero clan, Celedonio. Celedonio Romero was a master of the guitar, and I remember being captivated by his performance. In those days Phoenix was not the metropolis it is today, and we were lucky to be able to see someone of Celedonio's stature perform. Also saw Narciso Yepes and Carlos montoya in the early '60s, so Phoenix wasn't entirely bereft of significant performers on the guitar.
Bill
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And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Angel Romero playing a Hermann H... (in reply to jg7238)
Angel's brother Pepe was here in Austin a few weeks ago to play a concert to a full house of 1200. Afterward I stood in line for a few minutes to get my program signed. I'm not much of an autograph collector. I'm pretty sure I still have stashed away somewhere a program signed by Manuel Barrueco when he was only a couple of years out of conservatory. I stood in line a few weeks ago because I wanted to say something to Pepe.
I started off, "The first time I saw you was in San Antonio, fifty years ago, with your father and your brothers. The Gran Jota was very impressive that night. Tonight it was more lyrical and expressive."
Pepe replied, "Thank you."
I thought I might possibly have his attention. "You seem to enjoy yourself so much on stage."
Pepe paused a moment and looked up from where he was sitting at the autograph signing table. "Yes...in fact...yes, I do."
"You take us along with you. You lift our spirits."
I have seen Pepe a number of times. I think the only time I have seen Angel was that night long ago in San Antonio.
Angel is clearly a great guitarist, and a very engaging presence. Thanks for the video, Juan.
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Angel Romero playing a Hermann H... (in reply to estebanana)
At your service Estebananaman:
The man in the striped shirt is Miles Roberts, the owner of Kent Guitar Classics in Sevenoaks, Kent, England, about 35 miles southwest of central London. The locale of the video looks to be his house.
Goni plays not only some Hausers, but also a 1924 spruce/maple Santos Hernandez.
Hauser was strongly influenced by Segovia's 1913 Manuel Ramirez, built by Santos, which he challenged Hauser to improve upon. It took Hauser several tries before Segovia was satisfied.
Romanillos was in turn influenced strongly by Hauser, having rather intimate access to Bream's Hausers. Bream asked him to take the back off one of them to do some repairs. Eventually Romanillos built "The best guitar I ever had," according to Bream.
Goni comments that she had no trouble playing the way she wanted when she picked up a Hauser for the first time in this video. She says her long experience with her Romanillos made the Hauser familiar. But when she plays the Santos, she says it has an entirely different personality, that she can't get it to do exactly what she wants.
RNJ
...and my apologies for getting Juan's name wrong in the last post. I edited it to get it right.
Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Angel Romero playing a Hermann H... (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
Hauser shmowzer ..... conde is the best lol. They are pretty good. They are "easy" to play, as per these two vids I mean, and based on my experience, because they are very "alive", meaning, they ring out a lot, very bright, sustain a long time, have a very short scale, and are compensated to the extreme, without overpowered bass. I can certainly hear a sameness to the sound in these examples between hauser I and II, to the ones I have played.
The second video above the guy describes segovias recordings "from the 60's and 70's", implying the Hauser qualities, but in fact you are dealing with higher fidelity and the Ramirez III's that he had been trying since 1961. In fact in Ramirez's book it seems Segovias Hauser had gone a bit sour with Wolf tones or some other nonsense.
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Angel Romero playing a Hermann H... (in reply to Ricardo)
I didn't remember Miles Roberts's talking about about Segovia's recordings of the 1960s and -'70s, supposedly played on a Hauser. Segovia bought his first Jose Ramirez III instrument in 1960. It had Manuel Contreras's stamp on the heel of the neck, as the oficial of the Ramirez shop in charge of the assembly of the guitar, and its adherence to Ramirez's design.
Somewhere around that time Segovia also recorded and concertized on a Fleta.
In 1991 I bought a spruce/Brazilian Contreras doble tapa from Manuel Sr. that I still have. He chatted amiably about his experience working for Ramirez. He emphasized that Ramirez was a strict taskmaster, insisting on adherence to his specifications. I have since regretted not asking Contreras more about whether the responsible oficial was allowed any latitude in thicknessing the top or shaping of fan braces to accommodate the particular pieces of wood used in an instrument.
Having played quite a few Ramirez 1a classicals at the shop in the 1960s-early 1970s, and having bought several to re-sell in the USA, I noticed that the variability within the production of a single oficial seemed to be about equal to the variability across all the oficiales.
Some dealers have told me that the initials inside my Ramirez flamenca make it more valuable, others have said it makes no difference. It makes no difference to me, because I don't plan to sell it.
However, there is evidence that Segovia owned a Hauser II made in 1969.
Pepe Romero owns its sister, one of three made by Hauser II using cedar for the top, and having a V-shaped upper harmonic bar, the apex of the V on the bridge side of the soundhole, the legs of the V extending up toward the upper bout.
Here's Pepe Romero Jr. talking about his father's 1969 Hauser II and Scott Tennant playing it.
Did Segovia record with his 1969 Hauser II? I don't know... and it's time for me to get onto something other than the Foro.
RE: Angel Romero playing a Hermann H... (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
I love how Angel says " my fingers are moving so fast that the strings etc..." that was just great. Great player and boy does he rip that Concierto de Aranjuez....
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