Recording a classical music CD takes a professional crew and the only place to find such is the National Broadcast Company. In my case it is the Estonian Public Broadcast. Nowadays the waiting list can be long but that’s the way it goes – you write a project and it competes with others and a few will be chosen and recorded. It depends on the musicians involved, the level and quality of the program, the idea behind it and a few other things. To get a solo guitar CD recorded may seem easier than to record an orchestra but actually the process is almost the same.
Once you’re in the boat, you will have an editor, recording crew, technicians, whatever room you choose, montage, mixing and mastering. It includes tens of people and if I consider that I had about 5 more musicians and then the artwork and production team, I felt quite a big responsibility to play my best.
So I started practicing and the recording date was set to the beginning of September of 2007.
There are so many dances that classical guitarists perform every day! Minuets, waltzes and mazurkas in music schools, allemandes, courantes, gigues and all Baroque dances at the academies and not to tell about the world of the Spanish music! Sometimes you don’t even realize that you are actually playing dance music!
My approach to the repertoire that I play after graduating from the academy of music has been to play only what I like. I don’t care if the music is old or new but if I like it then there are chances that one day I could play it myself. Next come the listener – if I know that the listener wouldn’t like my choice then I will not play it. After all – I did not educate myself to a master degree classical guitarist to sit home and please myself! The audience must approve my choices and then, if I have their permission, I can insert something slightly different or unexpected to my programs.
So the program of my CD turned out to be a total mainstream! I am happy because then it is possible for the audience to compare them with the “ordinary” interpretations. When my album was done and I had sent it to my colleagues in different countries then I got some feedback that people had put the CD aside when they got it because the program seemed mainstream bullshit. Later, when they decided to give it a try (after all – I have to listen to THEIR discs, too!), many of them were really surprised.
I tried to include dances from different eras. Here I have the branle, galliard and saltarello representing the medieval and renaissance period. Then come the bourree and gigue from the Baroque master followed by Spanish music and the Latin grooves in the end. Finally, under number 13 I’ve got the only Estonian dance. I had to have it. And what kind of percussion did I use to mark the measure in this dance? Violoncello 
Get a drummer! Or two.
When I had realized that most of the interpretations of the enormous amount of dances written for the guitar are lacking the rhytmic flow I tried to find a way how I could fix it in my own playing. It is clear that solid playing techniques and proper arrangements and fingerings are needed but playing like a machine doesn’t improve the groove, though.
Adding some percussion seemed to be a solution. Classical guitar + small percussion. Sounds great! But if you put too much rhytm then you’ll loose the feeling of a guitar CD. There is a limit between band music and solo music and that’s why I decided to add only a small amount of rhytm instruments to certain pieces. Initially I wanted to put more and more because I was excited about the idea but when I started to play the pieces, I changed my mind a little bit. If you put too much salt it’ll not act the way you want
So what percussion do I have here: medieval drums (one at the time!) and tambourine in early music tracks, hand clapping and castagnets when it comes to the Spanish music and percussion on the guitar strings and body in the samba. When performing the program at live concerts with a real dancer, of course the sound of her feet will be added to the sound.
Recording a classical music CD takes a professional crew and the only place to find such is the National Broadcast Company. In my case it is the Estonian Public Broadcast. Nowadays the waiting list can be long but that’s the way it goes – you write a project and it competes with others and a few will be chosen and recorded. It depends on the musicians involved, the level and quality of the program, the idea behind it and a few other things. To get a solo guitar CD recorded may seem easier than to record an orchestra but actually the process is almost the same.
