News
I'm very happy to announce that I'm now working with Guitars International in the United States. They run a tight ship, representing a select handful of some the most distingished luthiers in the world. I count myself lucky and to be among them. My newest Torres/Romanillos model guitar arrived there late last week and is now available.
https://www.guitarsint.com/classical_guitar/Michael_Cadiz/TorresRomanillos_Model/628
Despite the Corona chaos this year, the Seckau Guitar Festival was still held and went off without a hitch thanks to the planning and hard work of the organizers.
For the last three years, I've attended the festival to show my guitars and I always have a great time. It takes place in a beautiful old Abbey in the mountains where all of the paticipants and teachers stay for the duration of the festival. It has a cozy summer camp sort of vibe; inbetween and after planned events, everyone hangs out, eats together and stays up late playing music and celebrating. There are, of course, masterclasses and concerts throughout the week. This year, there were wonderful concerts by Anna Lesjak, Florian Palier, Stefan Steinhauser, Andrej Ofak and Borut Mori.
For more info about the festival, here is a link to their website: http://www.gitarre-seckau.at/
Here is a Ricercar by Francesco Da Milano that I’ve been working on for a while and I think this is about as good as it's gonna get for me right now. Gotta move on to other pieces. I posted a video a while ago of it and decided to make a new one yesterday with better quality. I find it really difficult not to rush this piece. About half-way through it starts getting kinda meandering and it's hard to make things sound legato and not too heavy or plodding. The inner voices are also very cool and syncopated, but hard to bring out without having weird accents all over the place.
There are a few different manuscript sources of this one. This is from the Ness edition, which is basically the same as in the "Siena Lute Book" in the Hague. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm used to it at this point, but I like this one the best as it seems slightly more concise. I've notated it in standard notation and tracked down a few nice scans of the different sources. Here is a PDF of it for anyone that feels inclined to play it ;).
The guitar is a 2019 Spruce/Indian rosewood Modern Concert model Recorded with 2 Line Audio CM4 mics into a Zoom H5 and No EQ.
Just getting some shellac on this new Torres/Romanillos model that'll be heading over the ocean in a month or so.
Florian and I shot this video a couple weeks ago and we are happy it share it with you today. It’s one of set of four pieces written for solo guitar off of his new album Bach und Ich. I just listened to the whole album for the first time and highly recommend it. It includes excellent performances of the Bach lute suite BWV 1006, violin sonata BWV 1003, three original improvistations and, of course, the Four Pieces. The more I get to know Florian’s interpretations and compositions, the more I am impressed with his musicality. Really great stuff. :)
I’m very proud to have my guitar used on this new album by Florian Palier. Please check out this very talented guitarist and composer. He also a two other albums, videos and published scores avaible. Here is a brief description about this latest CD from Florian himself:
“Liebe Freunde,
mein neues Album "Bach und Ich" ist gerade angekommen. Es besteht aus Werken Johann Sebastian Bachs, Eigenkompositionen und Improvisationen.
Ich habe zwei meiner Lieblingswerke von J.S.Bach, seine "Suite BWV 1006a" und seine "Sonate BWV 1003", meine neue Komposition "Vier Stücke" sowie Improvisationen aufgenommen. Durch direkte Bezugnahme auf die Musik Bachs in meinen Improvisationen sowie die von der Struktur der barocken Suite inspirierte Kompositionsweise meiner "Vier Stücke" kreist dieses Album konzentrisch um Bach – er wird historisch interpretiert und improvisatorisch frei nacherzählt. Kompositorisch wird aus meiner gegenwärtigen Sicht dem großen Meister nachempfunden.
Aufgenommen hat mein wunderbarer Bruder Bende Panier, gespielt habe ich auf einer neuen Gitarre von Michael Cadiz. Das Cover-Artwork ist von thebeefilms.
Hören und downloaden könnt ihr das Album auf meiner homepage und bald wieder in Konzerten. https://www.florianpalier.net/music
Die Noten zu meinen "Vier Stücken" könnt ihr hier bekommen: https://bergmann-edition.com/products/palier-four-pieces…
Dear Friends,
my new album "Bach und Ich" (Bach and me) has just arrived. It consist of works by J.S.Bach, my own compositions and improvisations.
I recorded two of my favorite works by Bach - his "Suite BWV 1006a" and his "Sonata BWV 1003", my new composition "Four Pieces" and improvisations. It can be seen as an homage to Bach – his works are historically interpreted, quoted in improvisations and “compositionally re-narrated” from my point of view.
It was recorded by Bende Panier on a guitar built by Michael Cadiz, the cover artwork was done by thebeefilms.
You can listen to and download my new album on my homepage: https://www.florianpalier.net/music and soon again in live concerts.
The score of my four pieces can be found here:
https://bergmann-edition.com/products/palier-four-pieces…”
Here are a few photos of two upcoming cedar guitars. Really happy with how these new rosettes turned out. One is based on the Torres FE09 owned by Miguel Llobet; it has also been used by H. Hauser, Velazquez and many others. The second one is my very own new rosette design using a triangle motif that I’ve been playing with for the past year. These guitars are actually amost ready for finish. I’ve just haven’t been posting anything lately…
Here are some photos of a recently completed Torres model that I built for the summer festival season.
European spruce top
Indian rosewood back and sides
Spanish cedar neck
Ebony fingerboard
Scheller tuning machines with mother of pearl buttons
650mm scale length
52mm nut width (42mm string spacing)
57mm string spacing at bridge
Things have been pretty interesting this last month to say the least. I have been making progress in the shop, but somewhat slower than usual as we are all quarantined and, as we have a 2 year old daughter, I’ve been spending much of my days playing in the yard, cooking and cleaning etc.
Here are some photos of a recently completed Torres/Romanillos model now available at Galerie des Luthiers in Lyon, France. I think that it is a fine example of this style of instrument with a very intimate and colorful maple character. I was meaning to deliver this guitar in person, but then was not able to because of the circumstances. The galerie is, of course, temporarily closed to the pubic as most everything is at the moment, but they are still available and I’m sure would love to hear from you.
Here is the link to their website:
https://www.galeriedesluthiers.com/guitars/michael-cadiz-2020/
Finally making some progress after a longggg winter. Here are a bunch of photos of a new Torres/Romanillos model and Torres model after the first coats of shellac.
