Recently Heard: Eleven-String Baroque

[ellyssian]

Eleven String Baroque by Goran Sollscher

As the title indicates, the selections on this all come from the Baroque period, and are performed on - no surprises here - eleven strings. I had thought it was to be a lute album, and was initially disappointed to find it was just a guitar (which is a completely different creature from the just guitar,) but that disappointment ended when I first listened to the disc.

I've heard Goran's playing before - on a release with violinist Gil Shaham. While I think that was an excellent recording, with some fantastic playing, it always felt as if the violin had the lion's share of the good parts, leaving the guitar to pick up the pieces and tie things together. An important role, true enough, but I wanted to see what Goran could do with all of Paganini's notes...

Well, this recording looks to an earlier time, pre-demonic-violinist, and not only does it feature some virtuosic fretwork, it features almost twice as many strings! Now, some may wonder about that, and think it no big deal - twelve string guitars have one string more, after all. Where a 12-string includes six courses of two strings each, tuned an octave apart, which creates a fuller Stairway to Heaven sound, the eleven string guitar has eleven strings laid out individually. We're talking a very wide fretboard here, folks.

This recording is a nice blend of prime lute/guitar material (Bach's Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major and the Menuet in G Major from the Second Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach) to pieces by other Baroque luminaries such as Pachelbel (no, not the Canon...) and Couperin, along with pieces I am not familiar with by composers I hadn't heard of (Weiss, Kellner, Roman, Baron, and Logy.)

The addition of five strings greatly increases the tonal range of the guitar, and this provides a greater depth. Although I've listened to this a number of times, including a couple of overnight repeat listenings, I have not tried to dissect how Goran is using that range - I would expect that the additional strings are played open, much as you would a harp guitar. Even though this instrument allows fretted notes, I would expect them to be taken advantage of on more of an occasional basis for playability's sake.

While I'm fascinated with the technical aspects of playing the instrument, I don't allow that to interfere with my enjoyment of music performed upon it.

If I had to trade in all my other classical guitar discs and was only allowed to keep one, this would be it.