Posts Tagged ‘valseana’
Marc Teicholz – 1867 Torres
Here’s Marc Teicholz playing the final guitar from our ‘Valseana Live’ event – an exquisite 1867 Torres. The guitar is 145 years old and as far as most of us are concerned there aren’t many guitars, new or old, that can touch this. It’s kind of amazing that such a small guitar can sound so big after all these years. And while it’s hard to say how much of the experience has to do with knowing that you’re hearing a piece of history, almost everyone who hears this guitar (or other similarly preserved Torres guitars played by a great player) agrees that there’s something about them – the term ‘magical’ is used a lot. At any rate – you don’t get to hear these every day, so I hope you all enjoy Marc’s performance of some of Sergio Assad’s Brevidades and his Valseana movement from Aquarelle.
One of the many highlights of our ‘Valseana’ Live’ concert with Marc Teicholz this past January was his amazing performance of the Bach Chaconne on the 1952 Hauser I’ve written so much about (and that Eva Beneke is using now to record her new CD). The pairing of this guitar and this piece seems perfect, as it obviously did to Marc, who chose to play the Chaconne on that guitar, and the performance is just fantastic.
Here’s Marc Teciholz playing a gorgeous 1969 Miguel Rodriguez ‘Churchdoor’ at our ‘Valseana Live’ concert. The ‘Churchdoor’ guitars are famous as much for how they look as how they sound, and this is a perfect example of both. Marc plays the outer movements of Rodrigo’s ‘Sonata Giocosa’.
Here’s Marc Teicholz playing Paolo Bellinati’s “Un Amor di Valsa” on a 1930 Domingo Esteso at our ‘Valseana’ concert. Marc originally recorded this piece on the ‘Valseana’ CD playing a different Esteso from 1927.
Here’s Marc Teicholz playing Mendelssohn on a 1921 Santos Hernandez at our ‘Valseana Live’ concert a few weeks ago. The first piece is his arrangement of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, Op. 19, no. 6 “Venetian Gondola Song No. 1″ and the second is his arrangement of string Quartet #1, Op. 12 “II. Canzonetta”.
Here’s Marc Teicholz playing a 1936 Fleta that was actually a copy of a Torres that Fleta had in his shop for repair. Fleta made mostly violins until 1955, but he was smart enough in 1936 to take advantage of having the Torres in the shop. Marc and David thought it would be appropriate to play some Catalán music on a Catalán guitar, so Marc played Llobet’s arrangements of two Catalonian folk songs and Capricho Arabe by Tarrega.
Last Sunday we held out ‘Valseana Live’ concert, which featured guitarist Marc Teicholz playing 8 amazing guitars – a 1921 Santos, a 1930 Esteso, a 1952 Hauser I, a 1971 Friederich, a 2007 Blochinger, a 1936 Fleta, a 1969 ‘Churchdoor’ Rodriguez and an 1867 Torres. The evening turned out even better than expected, and it was a serious treat to hear Marc playing all of these guitars.
As promised we recorded the concert, and here is the first video – Marc playing Chopin on that 1971 Friederich.
We held another extraordinary event at GSI on Sunday with Marc Teicholz playing eight amazing guitars spanning from an 1867 Torres to a 2007 Blochinger. We pretty much knew it would be an amazing concert, but I think almost everyone was impressed with Marc’s playing and with the fact that we were hearing these beautiful instruments played exactly the way they were meant to be played.
We weren’t able to print a program because Marc didn’t know the guitars before he arrived in Santa Monica and up until the last minute he was finding pieces he felt were appropriate for each guitar, so we wanted to print an after-the-fact program for those who were there. We’ll also be posting audio and video of the event very soon.
Click on the image to read the program and see some photos.
Here are some photos of Marc Teicholz at the shop in Santa Monica. On Sunday Marc will be playing some of the rarest guitars ever collected in one performance (details here). Here is the list of guitars that he will be playing:
1. 1867 Torres SP/MP
2. 1921 Santos SP/MP
3. 1930 Esteso SP/CSAR
4. 1936 Fleta SP/MP
5. 1952 Hauser SP/CSAR
6. 1969 Rodriguez “Churchdoor” CD/CSAR
7. 2007 Blochinger SP/MP
As you can imagine, it takes a minute to get used to so many different guitars, so Marc is getting acquainted (or reacquainted, as he played many of them on his CD Valseana) with them all as I write.
The senior editor at Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Teja Gerken, has just selected Valseana as one of his ten ‘Acoustic Essential Albums‘ of 2011, and we couldn’t be more proud! This on top of a very nice review in the magazine from earlier in the year.
We’re particularly happy to hear this news as we gear up for our January 29th concert at the GSI showroom in Santa Monica featuring Marc playing selections from Valseana, as well some other material, on guitars by Torres, Hauser I, Fleta, Esteso, and more. Don’t miss your chance to see these amazing guitars played by one of the country’s top virtuosi. For more info and tickets click here.
