james Grace, classical guitarist recital in Pretoria university theatre

Keira-WitherKay

I had the pleasure today sunday the 11th to get tickets for the james Grace recital at pretoria university musion theatre...

if you don't know james grace has had his cd on classic radio's charts at number 1.........

he is a talented player with fabulous technique ......

so who said classical guitar music is dead............. the theatre which i reckon holds in excess of 500 - 600 people was sold out ......... and tickets were not cheap at R100 a seat ....... but worth every cent . and nogal in Pretoria....

the show was amazingly unplugged......... totally................ even in a 500/600 seater theatre quite amazing that ....

he was playing on a very old looking guitar....... i was hoping to catch him in the foyer after the show to ask him about this guitar.... but it was so swamped where he was we just slipped out a side door....... the guitar looked gorgeous and had a pure sound ... rich bass and a warm treble sound.... but looked like the tops finnish had been worn away in places........ my kind of guitar for sure.......

so yeah when he played solo the sound was excellent........... but soon as the quartet joined him , after about 30 min of solo guitar....the guitar lost it's presence and the volume of the violin/viola/cello and double bass became apparant ..... it's amazing how much more volume the other instruments had unplugged in comparisson to the guitar........ this is where the show was lacking from a sound perspective he was playing some awesome pieces but his guitar was lost in the mix.........

thankfully for the guitar fans.... he started the 2nd half of the show again with a 30 min solo set before the quartet came on.......

musically it was fabulous...not a unique choice of repetoire...and he almost stuck to classical/flamenco and latin standards heheheh i was hoping for an original composition........ however the skill levels in all the performers was world class.... and Jamess's tremelo type picking was incredible, also he did part of the mandolin concerto and used harmonics to get that upper register sound........ he's one of the best classical players i have seen and i highly recommend seeing his shows.......

and his skill and talent or appreciation of it was eveident by the full house of i'm sure between 500 and 600... and surprisingly a lot of younger people too...

next time maybe some overhead mics....... but my complaints do not diminish the performance or my enjoyment of it in any way .........

and i was lucky that my partner managed to get prime seats 3 rows from front so i had an excellent view of the stage ........

support this man he is an incredible talent......

peace adn light
keira

MikeM

Ahhh ☹

That's a fantastic theatre hey? It's a little low height wise but that really helps with the presence. Our main one is going to be demolished soon...

Well, even if I did know about this, I would not have been able to make it... Gosh, I will keep a better eye out at the musaion.. They have weekly shows every Thursday for free. The two I have been to were fantastic.

Conrad

I was there and bought a Sevilla. He is really a fantastic guitarist. He executed Asturias well and those Bocherini compositions were awesome!

I ended up speaking to him after the convert and apparently that guitar was made by a luthier in Australia http://www.jeffkemp.com. I was wondering how he got such a percussive attack on the strings when doing rasguaedos but he said that the top of the guitar is Cedar and I recently read an article that claimed you will get more attack from Cedar than from Spruce. I don't know how true it is but it does seem so.

I was wondering how many people there were. Are you a classical guitarist? If so, what are you working on and do you perform?

C

Keira-WitherKay

hi conrad , well i'm an "acoustic world music guitarist and composer" and although i do compose classical pieces i do not label myself a classical guitarist ......... and yes i have performed extensively abroad and just been in jhb for last 18 months where i do perform at moment ..as to what i do.... i perform professionally/teach music and i'm busy trying to develop my pretty unique mix of percussion and guitar style... and develop a show to tour ..........i almost exclusively perform my own compositions...... ( except for a few jazz standards when i work with a jazz singer)

yeah i enjoyed the james grace show ... he is awesome with great technique ..... when he spoke between songs he came over as a very likable and nice guy....... would have loved to have chatted to him..... oh well next time....

and yeah interesting comments you made on his guitar .......i did think it sounded really nice and warm and clear too... the warmth is typical of cedar ...to me spruce tops can be quite sharp and brittle sounding especially on the higher top end ...... but i gues it depends on the luthier .........personally i like or prefer a warm rounded top end tone.......with a rich bass.....

chat again soon conrad .

peace and light
keira

Conrad

Yes he does seem quite down to earth.

I am now after this guitar:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Manuel-Rodriguez-FF-Cutaway-Cypress-Classical-Acoustic-Electric-Guitar-514329-i1373775.gc

I played one of it's cousins recently and fell in love with it. I just don't know how to get it into the country safely because the one I played took a hard knock on the way in.

The luthiers at Manuel Rodriguez are very helpful and seriously passionate about quality it seems.

C

Keira-WitherKay

well maybe if you wanna bring a guitar back... it would be worth going to fetch it personally heheh plan a personal holiday around the 'pick up date" yeah i see airport security is less strict these days and a student of mine had to travel to dubai with her classical guitar last month and it was allowed to go into the cabin... however she did have a high grade skb case just in case...... but the guitar arrived safe and sound...so maybe enquire when you book your tickets if the airline allows guitars onboard........ seems it's a lot less strict these days... thankfully so.... cos yeah i guess freight is always a risk.....

Conrad

Yes that is in fact on the cards. My wife & I are saving for a trip to Spain. We were supposed to go there for our honeymoon but the exchange rate was just crazy. She is a guitarist too so maybe we can get her something decent there as well.

Have you played any of the guitars made by local luthier Mervyn Davies? I was thinking of getting one from his "smooth talker" range.

Here is a link to his site:
http://www.mervyndavisguitars.com/

C

Keira-WitherKay

Conrad wrote: Yes that is in fact on the cards. My wife & I are saving for a trip to Spain. We were supposed to go there for our honeymoon but the exchange rate was just crazy. She is a guitarist too so maybe we can get her something decent there as well.

Have you played any of the guitars made by local luthier Mervyn Davies? I was thinking of getting one from his "smooth talker" range.

Here is a link to his site:
http://www.mervyndavisguitars.com/

C

yes i have played mervyn davis's guitars... but for me ..... i love his normal design nylons..... i played on an old one of his a while back and it was awesome.........as for smoothtalkers i guess the are an aquired taste........ i'm too into the old nylon classical design to consider anything else... heheheh it's very much a visual thing .... also they very heavy i like light guitars .......
but i also recently played on a mark maingard classical.....and it was superb.... one of the best nylons i have ever heard and it felt awesome.... consider him before you settle on a custom luthier built guitar ...... although i believe there is a long waiting list .... he's in cape town....... but he makes exquisite instruments

peace and light
K

Conrad

OK I'll look into Mark Maingard. There is just so much to learn and it seems so few people are interested in nylon string guitar music in SA. Or maybe it is just not marketed well enough because a counter example is probably what we saw with James Grace on the 11th.

C

Keira-WitherKay

there is a small but growing nylon string guitar interest in SA especially in jhb .... but it is a niche market and so i doubt will ever be mainstream.... but yeah james had a full house and at R100 a seat to approx 500 people maybe even more.... thats not a small theatre ...
thats net take of R50 000 for a sunday afternoon gig and then he sold cd's .... .not a bad payday i think ....... so yeah just the fact that it was full house was a sign people don't only want mainstream music......... but lets face it he is worth every cent...... so i guess the better players will always do well enough even in the niche markets

Conrad

OK. Yes and that is encouraging. There is some guy in Pta called Abri Jordaan that is apparently in the league of Grace as well but it seems he is not interested in performing (I find that strange LOL).

I would like to finally see Tony Cox and Steve Newman soon.

We would like to come and watch you perform in JHB soon too.

C

Bob-Dubery

Keira WitherKay wrote:
but i also recently played on a mark maingard classical.....and it was superb.... one of the best nylons i have ever heard and it felt awesome.... consider him before you settle on a custom luthier built guitar ...... although i believe there is a long waiting list .... he's in cape town....... but he makes exquisite instruments

Not only is there a long waiting list, he's not what one would call cheap. Neither, for conventionally bodied guitars, is Mervyn Davis, but I think he'd work out cheaper than Marc Maingard.

There's also Ian Corr down on the wild coast, and there must be others.

There's a 10-string Ramirez at McGibbons at the moment. Hugh Cummings has a couple of high-end nylon strung guitars at present.

Conrad

X-rated Bob wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote:
but i also recently played on a mark maingard classical.....and it was superb.... one of the best nylons i have ever heard and it felt awesome.... consider him before you settle on a custom luthier built guitar ...... although i believe there is a long waiting list .... he's in cape town....... but he makes exquisite instruments
Not only is there a long waiting list, he's not what one would call cheap. Neither, for conventionally bodied guitars, is Mervyn Davis, but I think he'd work out cheaper than Marc Maingard.

There's also Ian Corr down on the wild coast, and there must be others.

There's a 10-string Ramirez at McGibbons at the moment. Hugh Cummings has a couple of high-end nylon strung guitars at present.

What is that guitar on your profile pic Bob?

Bob-Dubery

Conrad wrote: What is that guitar on your profile pic Bob?

A Mervyn Davis Smoothtalker - mine is a steel string.

More pictures at
http://www.guitarforum.co.za/guitar-gear/broederstroom-pron-%28smoothtalker%29/

Conrad

I love the look of those. I just haven't played any before.

Bob-Dubery

Conrad wrote: I love the look of those. I just haven't played any before.

If you're in Pretoria then you're not far from Mervyn's workshop (which is in Broederstroom).

See www.smoothtalkerguitars.com

Mervyn also makes more traditional nylon string instruments.

Conrad

X-rated Bob wrote:
Conrad wrote: I love the look of those. I just haven't played any before.
If you're in Pretoria then you're not far from Mervyn's workshop (which is in Broederstroom).

See www.smoothtalkerguitars.com

Mervyn also makes more traditional nylon string instruments.

Weird..I worked at the nuke corporation (just next to Broederstroom) for 4 years and I never knew he was there. I might have been able to get a guitar that glows in the dark. ?

Sorry my silly switch was on. Thanks for the info. I will definitely visit him.

C