Thomas Walker, Jr.
Saint Paul, MN
You do not have the current Adobe Flash Player
To listen to this audio clip you will need to upgrade Adobe Flash Player
You do not have Adobe Flash Player
To listen to this audio clip you will need to install Adobe Flash Player
About
I have played baroque and renaissance music on the lute and its various cousins for a dozen years. For 15 years before that I played guitar--classical, jazz, and the unnameable style of Leo Kottke--before realize that much of what I was looking for was actually happening in lute music.
In spite of its being at least six hours from any other big city, Minneapolis/St. Paul has had, since the 80s, a fairly lively subculture of devotees, scholars, and performers of early music. So since I picked up the lute I have been fortunate to find willing teachers, and teachers happy enough to welcome me as a colleague in performance. In recent years I have been privileged to share stages with the Rose Ensemble, Ensemble Polaris, Phillip Rukavina, members of the Lyra Baroque, Paul Berget, and others.
The music...much grit has been flung between the "traditionalists" in the classical world and the "authentic"--now HIP, historically-informed performance--practitioners. As ever, some of it is deserved.
I like the lute because is makes sounds that the modern classical guitar does not, and therefore illuminates the music in ways that are new to most of us. That said, I think Dowland can sound good on the guitar; so can Weiss, Bach's lutenist-contemporary who is regaining some fame of late. Fundamentally, it is about sounding good, and this is not the first time that contemporary musicians found a "new" way to sound good by investigating the past.
Stats
- Plays today
- 0
- All-time plays
- 95
- Profile views
- 581
