10 years of SAITENSPRÜNGE!

A guitarist commands ten skilled fingers, gliding over the strings as he /she coaxes the gentle, sometimes vibrant tones from the musical instrument. In addition, in keeping with its 10-year celebration, the International Guitar Festival of Saitensprünge in Bad Aibling presented 10 extraordinary concerts. 

The festival month of November included two scheduled concerts (an encore was added) in the culinary-music side program in a Bad Aibling restaurant, as well as guitar exhibitions in the entrance hall of the Kurhaus by renowned artisan Roland Metzner and Saller Musikhaus of Raubling. The 2009 Saitensprünge concert series, presented on the stages of the two Kurhaus halls, gave witness to a spectacular guitar festival on its 10th grandiose anniversary with enormous public approval. 3757 music fans attended the concerts of Saitensprünge 2009, exceeding last year’s total (2680 visitors) by an impressive 40 percent!  This was an indication of a promising future for the festival. 

From 5 to 26 November, 2009, sixty-four  musicians from twelve countries congregated in the Kurstadt.  Countries represented included Brazil, Portugal, Great Britain, Spain, the USA, Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Lithuania, France, Germany and Sweden. 

The opening performance , presented by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, in the  sold  out  concert hall was met with  resounding success as the audience  enthusiastically responded to the  musical repertoire and many antics  of the British troupe. Among the guests were many prominent figures from various artistic professions. The grandiose musical troupe fulfilled all expectations.  Whether the musical genre was of Camille Saint-Saens or Kate Bush, from the punk rockers Sex Pistols or the rock hippies Steppenwolf, the arrangements created for the bonsai guitar were highly amusing and deserving of the highest admiration.  Most amused were those who still had a recollection of the originals and could define a contrast in artistic approach. "It was clear that one could not let the British musicians so easily exit the stage. There were several encores and standing ovations for a worthy opening concert of dynamic ukuleles and a high degree of frivolity”, wrote the concert critic Andreas Friedrich in the Oberbayerische Volksblatt. 

 Next to appear was the internationally acclaimed Pepe Romero, the "King of the Concert Guitar” who has experienced a musical career considerably more extensive than that of the Ukulele Orchestra.  Born in Malaga, in 1944, Romero started as a teenager to perform in concerts and to record musical pieces, which even today are considered masterful renditions of classic guitar.  Pepe Romero with an exquisite concert, which he dedicated to his only guitar teacher, his father, Celedonio, and to the composers Issac Albeniz and Francisco Tarrega, justified his half-century notoriety as one of the greatest exponents of the classical guitar.  Commenting on his selection of music, he said, “I selected for this program pieces, which my father treasured most and arranged them as he used to perform. I invited the listener to accompany me on a journey back to my roots and to experience my past, which has been so deeply etched into my soul".  The audience in the fully occupied hall accepted his invitation to experience his deepest emotions and was rewarded with a magnificent, spell bounding concert. 

As in the previous year, the Locos por la Rumba performed in the Bodega Mamajuana as part of the side program of the Saitensprünge. The group extended their stage presence, as an overwhelming resonance demanded yet another evening’s performance. The two guitarists "El Quintero" and Ricardo Volkert displayed an inspiring “joy of life as reflected by the Gipsy Kings" with their selection of Flamenco, Rumba and Musica Cubana. 

From Spain to South America, to Brazil: A local musician held the Bad Aibling jazz aficionados in awe. Jazz pianist and internationally renowned musician, Chris Gall performed on November 11 in the concert hall of the Kurhaus.  Although Brazil is associated with carnival - with the beginning of carnival falling on this date, this wonderful concert did not have anything to do with that festive celebration. This was an occasion to celebrate the birthday of the master guitarist Pedro Tagliani from the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. The two musicians joined to form Duo Dois. Compositions of the two ingenious interpreters and composers are played occasionally even by icons of the current MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) such as Egberto Gismonti. This performance saw the delicate interaction of the two harmony instruments guitar and piano become a true, swinging celebration with euphoric character. Thus, thunderous applause rang throughout the hall in appreciation of their musical performance. 

At no other Saitensprünge concert are traditionally as many musicians on the stage as with the Bairische Saitenblicke. Since the initial days of the Guitar Festival, this evening is focused entirely on genuine Alpine Volksmusik. The large Kurhaus hall was furnished with tables and chairs for this beautiful and long evening of music and fine gourmet.  It was not an easy task for the waitresses and waiters to be quasi inaudible around the fine string sounds and presence of the musicians, yet fulfill each beverage and food desire as quickly as possible. Much praise was offered: "mastered with bravado!" was the comment commonly heard. A festival room with 488 visitors again filled to the last seat, an eloquent indication of the high appreciation this evening has attained. Visitors have ventured from far and wide to enjoy the evening’s festival of Bavarian Volksmusik.  The Weissengroana,  the Kirchleit`n Musi,  the Vilsleit`n Musi,  the Rimstinger Quartet,   the Geschwister Stuhlmüller  and  the Familiengesang Hamberger  sang and created  music at the highest level.  Bert Lindauer from Griesstaett, a high-esteemed moderator provided   background information and conducted the evening festivities.  Lindauer has had many years of experience having moderated the initial Bairischen Saitenblicke performances in 2000 and 2001. 

Earlier starting  times  (19:00), and a  longer evening performance of:  Guitarrissimo!,  this year’s festival within the festival  with the solo artists  Michael "Kosho" Koschorreck,  Zane Charron,  Ieva Baltmiskyte  and  Paulo Amorim  as well as that extremely entertaining , and formidable quartet 4-tissimo  inspired in its 2009 edition again such  public attention that many guitar aficionados rubbed their eyes in amazement as the  marathon concert drew to a close, commenting : "what – it is  already eleven thirty?”  The time flew, in a most diversified and lively way.  Kosho, touring the large concert arenas as a guitarist of the Söhne Mannheims before and after his Saitensprünge appearance, opened with Play Bach ,  a piece from his  current, very impressive  album  All Sides Love. In a fusion of motives from Bach Cello Suites with his expressive soul voice and his unique percussive guitar play the all-round musician already demonstrated in detail, how well music from completely different genres can be brought together, if a musician has the skill.  The song anticipated what was to occur the entire evening.  Portugal’s Paulo Amorim presented a small guitar concert to an attentive audience. The guitar is structurally akin to the instruments of the "Viennese School” style of George Stauffer. It was constructed at the workshop of the legendary Bavarian guitar artisan Hermann Hauser I. The Hauser Institute made it possible for Amorim to inspect the instrument just prior to the concert. It was astonishing to hear the beautiful sound, which sprang forth from this simple and diminutive instrument and filled the hall with music.  In particular, it was a pleasure to hear with the Latin American self-composed pieces by Amorim.” It is not uncommon, if my fingers begin to burn," reassured the Floridian finger picker, Zane Charron. Indeed, he seemed to create sparks with his furious play on the steel string guitar. The Lithuanian guitarist Ieva Baltmiskyte, now living in Brussels, is a former member of the Baltic Guitar Quartet with whom she has already performed at Saitensprünge. She optically presented herself as an exquisite masterpiece of the Flemish School of Art. This visual display heightened the effects of her spiritual, sometimes hot-blooded virtuosity as she displayed in the furious third set of the Libra Sonatine, composed by the French guitarist- composer Roland Dyens.  Finally, 4-tissimo, the Ukrainian Byelorussian-Russian ensemble comprised of Nadja Kossinskaja, Yuliya Lonskaya, Oksana Shelyazhenko and Dimitri Illarionov did everything, in order to release the classical guitar from its reputation of being exclusionary and demure. The four  played at times while standing , used wine glasses  as bottleneck slides, played partly with candle light and lastly as a quartet on two guitars (Tico Tico - to be viewed on youtube). That was virtuosity and most entertaining as was the entire, varied evening. 

The Dadgad master Pierre Bensusan appeared to be a resurrection of the great French Chansonnier Georges Moustaki. Bensusan’s solo concert, surprisingly so, attracted only 135 visitors - still Bensusan has a sterling reputation, apparently in the south of Germany, as a unique guitar artist, composer and singer. His “open" guitar tendency, his phenomenal play technique and his free spirit permit him one musical high-altitude flight after the other. 

For the first time a concert in the Pub Gelling`s The Bogtrotter, with the Matching Ties comprised of Paul Stowe and Trevor Morris took place in the side program of the Saitensprünge.  The British   American duo is known for its easy swing and most skillful presentations on a multiplicity of acoustic stringed instruments, whereby Morris` mandolin and Stowe’s steel string guitar were at the center of the performance. Altogether, Zane Charron, Pierre Bensusan and the Matching Ties presented finger pickers and finger picker virtuosi at a magnitude at SAITENSPRÜNGE 2009 as rarely experienced. Steel string guitars of different designs were seen and heard, much to the enjoyment of the audience 

The Kur Director and Saitensprünge organizer Thomas Jahn escorted the Brazilian Odair Assad onto the concert stage. The renowned guitarist, who had just completed a long, exhausting flight, proclaimed in slightly accented English, “Usually my brother Sérgio makes the announcements. His absence requires me to become accustomed to speaking to you ", In spite of his sometimes difficult to understand English, which required time to become attuned, he created a charming atmosphere. He wanted to play a “new" guitar from the renowned guitar craftsman Matthias Dammann, which he had seen only briefly before, in the guitar display of the music shop Saller. "One can only meaningful test an instrument during a performance environment – while playing a concert", Odair Assad commented on stage before undertaking to perform with his new instrument. Later then, "ah, the overtones, the flageolets are adjusted slightly differently than on my custom Thomas Humphrey". Fortunately, a problem did not develop. The first concert half was dedicated to brilliantly interpreted works of the Latin American composers Agustin Barrios, Antonio Lauro, Pixinguinha and mansion Lobos, then Odair Assad ignited veritable fireworks with a whole series of various compositions, which were are all dedicated to him,, to include Kevin Callahan’s Red Fantasy, Egberto Gismonti’s Memoria e Fado as well as the Seis Brevidades of his brother Sérgio. All required a maximum of virtuosity and incredible play-technique. Odair Assad, supporting the guitar without foot bank or stand on the right thigh like a Flamenco guitarist acted even in the highest degree of difficulty still unbelievably relaxed and highly musical and so transformed his solo appearance into one of guitar’s great moments. 

The visionary jazz guitarist John Abercrombie, who appeared two days later on the same stage, performed with Mark Feldman at the violin, Drew Gress at contra bass and Joey Baron on  drums. It is no wonder this “super group” attracted many notables from the local jazz scene. As in its current album Wait Until You See Her, released by the Munich label ECM,  the John Abercrombie Quartet played a very chamber music orientated, intricate, occasionally high-level impressionistic, at times interlaced melodic version of current jazz, which worked however in its gentleness, its wide ranges on many listeners as a soothing balsam. 

Out of Flamenco, featuring  the guitarist, lute player  and composer,  Walter Abt  of Munich,  his quartet,  Sol y Sombra,  the  German modern dancer and  choreographer  Aurelia  Baumgartner and the young Andalusia, Flamenco  dancer,  Jairo  Cabral in the large Kurhaus hall. Apart from Flamenco inspired adaptations of some Spanish classical composers of the 20th century to include Joaquin Rodrigo (Concierto de Aranjuez), Isaac Albéniz (Asturias) and Manuel de Falla (Danza Del Molinero, Cancion Del Fuego Fátuo), the musical selections of the evening originated from the pen of Walter Abt.  Improvisations from Walter Abt and Jürgen  Seefelder at the saxophone underlined the jazzy touch of this unique combination of music. representing the  classical period, jazz and Flamenco, those usually Compás, thus the Flamenco accompaniment  of  Ken Weinzierl  at guitar and the contra  bassist  Markus Wagner  formed more than only a solid basis. It was fascinating to hear as in the music of this ensemble, which is otherwise heard within classical music with the historical European lute and the sopransaxophon. It was an enjoyable listening experience. It was also fascinating to witness how differently the two dancers interpreted his music Out of Flamenco in dance. Occasionally ethereally was Aurelia Baumgartner, immersed in a bluish, green light. With soft, but precise, present, proud movements performed Jairo Cabral. Unfortunately, the two did not enter into a choreographed  dialogue.

Grand Finale:  Chamber music Knockout!  Those who ask themselves of the significance of the name of this concert need only to listen to a few minutes of the performance of the Gothenburg Combo alias Thomas Hansy and David Hansson. (Interestingly - a music critic first applied the curious name).  No other ensemble in the world is able to compose in such a lively manner (knock out). The ensemble reminds one of the antics of the Monty Python Comedy Troupe with its display of slapstick comedy, mimicry and profound guitar technique as they capture the heart of the listener with their high degree of entertaining musicality. The two Swedish musicians do not attempt “L`Art pour l`art” ("Art for art's sake), but concern themselves with maintaining a high degree of interaction with the audience. The fact the two perform excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldbergvariationen, their own compositions in the spirit of the minimal music, Scandinavian Volks Music and an age-old Chinese style, makes the performance only that much more entertaining, more enriching and more exciting. In such a way is the circle completed, starting with the Ukulele Orchestra and concluding with this intriguing finale of SAITENSPRÜNGE 2009. 

Our appreciation is herby extended to all the musicians, sponsors and guests of SAITENSPRÜNGE 2009!