Johannes Möller

I’m remembering a few months back to Johannes Möller, the brilliant guitarist (from Sweden, I think) who gave a recital in Eastleigh in January. It was another reminder of the array of astonishing guitarists out there all competing for a smallish natural audience. But if the classical guitar is going to expand beyond a niche status in the musical world, it will surely be through the creative and immediately appealing music being made by artists like Möller. Most of the programme was original work, some (Silk, From Her Source to the Sea) inspired by India and employing Indian ragas convincingly. The technical range was dazzling – it would be hard to think of a technical device not used at some point – but the listeners were won over not by mechanical skill but by the emotional and dramatic feel of the pieces. The 1981 preludes covered a wide range of moods (in 10 different keys), and the concluding ‘A star in the sky, a universe within …’ and ‘The Night Flame’ were affirming larger-scale works with a burning drama to them. A refreshing release from mdoernist idioms of anguished interiority and irony. It was good along the way to be introduced to the composer Giulio Regondi (1822-72). The whole recital came over with tremendous charm and the playing carried with it a passionate desire to communicate. Thanks due to SCGS for putting it on. Rememebring Piotr Anderszewski at Turner Sims recently, and the terrific recent Nuffield season, I'm increasingly bemused by those whos till feel they have to slog off to London to get live culture.