Strings

I have been practising on my 8-strings guitar made by Tihamer Romanek in the last three days. Mr. Romanek, he is a Hungarian harpsichord, guitar, lute and lute-harpsichord maker. It's much better to play scales, plucking or arpeggio exercises on this guitar than on a normal classical 6-string guitar. Practising on 8-strings is a serious physical work for the left hand since the neck is wider. Playing chords takes a long a time to learn on it but then it is so nice like on a piano! You 8 notes at the same time.

And it trains your technic much more. The instrument is more heavy than a normal 6-string classical guitar.

Doing lute, piano or cello transciptions is easier on 8-string classical guitar because you have more strings more range of sound. You can tune it on many ways. I tune it as normal guitar tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E) plus A (bass) underneath and another A at the top. Others normally tune it as a lute or a normal classical guitar plus two more bass strings.

This is not my 8-string guitar but I have exactly the same type - I got this picture from Romanek's website.

Updates on sandormester.com

Finally we could integrate the concert videos from Sibiu (Romania) to my main site sandormester.com

Neil O'Grady and MS3 play classical guitar duo improvisation together

MS3: Lullaby for Sarah

Neil O'Grady and MS3 improvise in Sibiu

And finally you can watch the videos about our intercultural improvisation with Neil in Sibiu at Astra Park.

Nik did a nice work shooting this video.

Tarrega and Villa-Lobos

A little Francisco Tarrega and more Heitor Villa-Lobos from Sibiu by ms3.. My Romanian friend Nik shot this as well..

Lullaby for Sarah from Sibiu

Nice Lullaby for Sarah - for my beauty. I played it in Sibiu at Astra Park during the European Capital of Culture. I love my daughter. I hope you can hear and feel it on this video. I told her that "I always think on you my sweetheart when I play this pieces"... "Dont think on me dad I am hear with you now" - she says.

My Romanian friend Nik shot all the videos on my concerts.

MS3 Tarrega Live from Sibiu

So here are the videos from Sibiu! Francisco Tarrega and Agustin Mangore Barrios by Sandor Mester MS3 from Sibiu, Romania - European Capital of Culture.

Thanks to WebMa team

Sting and Dowland

As everybody knows Sting released an album last year called Labyrinth. He sings John Dowland's songs on this album playing with a guy called Edin Karamazov - a lutist from Bosnia. I have never heard this name before but I like the family name 'Karamazov' anyway since my favorite writer is Dostojevskij. I have read majority of his works and when I was young I have read Karamazov Brothers and have fallen in love with Fjodor Mihajlovic's works...

I really like Sting's previous works and think that he is an intellectual pop-star singing basically rock and roll, plays on bass and double-bass very well... not that much on classical guitar...

... Spreading classical or renaissance music is important...

... But I had some disapproval with the fact that a popstar sings Dowlands works... Sting is fantastic. I checked listened to these songs on youtube this night and I can say that Sting is a sensible artist who can do anything he wants. If he cannot do that he does not do that. He did this Dowland album on a very natural way that every classical singers should do.

What do I think about Karamazov? He is a professional lute player did his job, nothing special.

My favorite Dowland video by me: Downland's Air.

What do I think about my performance...? Well, I dont think that I am the best person to ask about that but I think I did my job at least...

I started to miss Downland's pieces...

Leaving Sibiu

So I leave Sibiu tomorrow early morning. I stayed one more day to be with my Ester. My daughter is still in Greece and my next concert will be only tomorrow so there was no reason to rusg at all..

Bye-bye Sibiu and Cisnadioara!!!

Rafi Pitts

My greatest pleasure being here in Sibiu at this workshop is that I met a guy called Rafi Pitts. He is a forty year old half-English and half-Iranian film-maker working and staying mainly in Paris. He is an editor and director and basically he is not doing documentaries. As far as I know he did one documentary only that's why he is here in Sibiu at Aristotles Workshop... He is such a nice guy! I watched that doc by Rafi about 'Abel Ferrara' - who is a film director too. It is an amazing New York-movie like Cassavettes (Faces and Shadows of New York etc.) about a daily life of a film director in New York. I am so happy that I have met this guy. He is a very warm-heart person, a guy who is good to have fun with as well as the best story-teller. He is kind and knows a lot almost everything about movies and can give advises to young film-makers without being scolastic... He can get their respect, he is focused like hell and has the freedom of thinking. He has an incredible background and life-story not the easiest one I have ever heard...



I will really miss him when I'll be back to my country... Rafi Pitts is an amazing rock and roll man... I wish I could play the guitar on the same level how he makes films...

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www.sandormester.com

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Documentary Film Workshop in Sibiu

My Ester is taking part at a documentary film workshop in Sibiu as a director. I have been being very much interested in other artistical areas for a long a time especially in filming... I learnt a lot about film-making here in Sibiu even I wanted to or not... I met Jennifer Fox documentary film director from New York and have seen four parts of her film called 'Flying'. There are editors from a French television 'Arte' as well as couple of people from the Romanian television, Greeks, Croats etc. There is a Romanian-American actor called 'Dan' who is the leader of the workshop. He is the best host... The most loud students are the Serbian girls... They are very tough and funny..

Classical Guitar Duo Improvisation in Sibiu

Bob Bales, founder and leader of European House of Art in Romania, introduced me Neil O'Grady a brilliant classical guitarist from the UK. He is a nice man and a great guitarist. Bob wanted us to play together but we did not have time and possibilty to arrange to play some nice classical guitar duo that was written by the good old composers like Mauro Guilliani... It was on Tuesday 21th Aug...

I met Neil at 6pm during the sound check and we improvised on stage around 10... He played first in solo pieces of Villa-Lobos as well as one his own pieces and an English folk song arranged by him for classical guitar. He was singing the song and acompany himself on guitar. It was excellent. I played afterwards in solo pieces of Fransisco Tarrega, Agustin Mangore Barrios and Heitor Villa-Lobos. Then two of my pieces: Bagatelle and Lullaby. I wrote Lullaby for my beautyfull daughter Sarah who I am missing her so much since I did not see her for a long time... My Romanian friend called NIC recorded a lot last night...

We could not really reherse with Neil before the concert and it went very well!! We did an encore another improvisation. Audience liked it, we liked it so it was such a great concert. Neil told me that he knew my name but he did not remember why, when and where...

I have such a nice time in Sibiu in European Capital of Culture!

I will miss this place very much!

Good to be in Sibiu, Nagyszeben

I am enjoying being in Sibiu with such an international company like I have here.. I am doing my concerts with the help of The Art of Culture and/or European House of Arts running by Bob Bales who is a great musician, painter and somehow the representative of European culture... He has Romanian and Greek collegues and invites artists all around from the EU. Romanians are very nice to me, they help and support me more than it is I ever could imagine... and of course the local Hungarians help me a lot but there are not so many... I stay at the same hotel than all the other film-maker students and teachers.

Concerts in Sibiu

I play a lot in Sibiu.. I found a cultural online news from Romania where I could see Neil a classical guitarist from the UK who I will play with next week..

I am planning to play pieces by Dowland, Bartok and me.. English and Hungarian music that would fit to our nationality..

Sibiu

I have done three concerts in Sibiu (Romania, Capital of Europena Culture) in the last three days. People are nice and very much open-minded. I like to play here.

A film teacher has made lots of videos on my concerts but we had couple of problems to get it ready to upload to youtube and then link it to this blog.

Bob Bales our Irish friend he is very-very professional cultural program organizer as well as musician and painter.

Sibiu

We arrived to Sibiu last night... I had to drive more then ten hours continiously. I was extremely tired when I woke up Today - around noon..

I wll have lots of classical guitar concerts here in Sibiu. Nice city. As the slogan says:

city of culture. city of cultures.

Sibiu is the Cultural Capital of Europe this year. I will write more but others are waiting for Internet access well...

Barrios

I trained myself in the biography of Agustin Mangoré Barrios, one of the most important classical giutar players and composers of the twentieth century. He had long periods in depression and after these hard times he composed and practised a lot. He was very sensitive.

I like his pieces very much, I am learning Cathedral and I play Madrigale Gavotte a lot.

Read more about Barrios

Cancellation

I had to cancel ten concerts because my left rwing finger was broken in a little accident on my wedding... I will see the doctor tommorrow morning when we can figure out how to restart practicing.. Until then I am holding my breath..

I need to play and I feel my finger well hopefully I dont have to cancel my concert on next weekend...

Romania

I will play couple of concerts in Romania. I found a nice guy a month ago at Sibiu/Nagyszeben called Bob Bales who is the founder of European House of Arts in Romania. He organized classical guitar concerts for me in Sibiu.

The Program:

Discography

My discography page was renewed. Sooner or later there will be a nice and cute online store for my dvd and cds. An online and on demand shop. When? In September I hope...

We are very busy since I'll play a lot of concerts during the summer in Hungary and Romania as well spreading classical guitar music as much as I can..

Until then visit MS3's discography page

Lullaby for Sarah

Couple of years ago when my daughter was a little girl around 2-3 years old I wrote her a lullaby. I thought it would help to asleep. It is a nice piece but did not help her at all... I had four concerts last weekend around the lake Balaton basically in churches. Sound of the classical guitar fits very much to the church atmosphere and acoustics. Ester did the videos, just samples from the whole piece..

The main theme of the Lullaby:



and another part as well:

Gavotte Choros by Villa Lobos

Another video from my live performance at Szekesfehervar. I played Villa Lobos Gavotte Choros. I like this piece and played hundred times on my concerts in the last two years.

This Choros is one of the most important pieces of the classical guitar literature. You can recognize it easily, it has a very simple and nice melody, great harmonies like in a Chopin piece and has an Brazilian-Parisien ambient.

Unfortunately my guitar was not clean because of the windy weather and changes of temperature in my car - outside... Actually I changed the batteries in my tuning machine..



Ester made this shot for me.

Bela Bartok: For Children

I played a lot pieces from Bela Bartok: For Children on 6 string classical guitar on my recitals. I don't have favourites, I really like all of them!!!

Funeral Song and Lento

Funeral Song has to be played basically without any extreme emotions since you don't have lots of emotions on an event like this. You are disappointed but calm and said. Lento is a typical Hungarian song by Bartok. Depressive melody in minor key with pianississimo and fortossimo peak in 30 seconds.

Video on blog

This short video was done my Ester Yesterday at Szekesfehervar. I play my my favorite Choros by Villa Lobos.

It is just a video sample not the whole piece.

Villa Lobos again

www.sandormester.com has been updated at Villa Lobos section and you can watch my Heitro Villa Lobos: Gavotte Choros video. I love this piece and played a lot on my concerts. I played Today as well at Szekesfehervar twice since I had two concerts there this afternoon...

This piece is called Gavotte Choros but it has an ambient that reminds me much more to Chopin's music and not to the baroque sytle. Villa Lobos liked to be in classical or baroque mood that's why he named this piece as Gavotte I think...

Dowland to Bartok

I am practicing for my concerts. I'll do concerts in Sibiu (Nagyszeben in Hungarian) in Romania as well. We have fiexed seven concerts but it is possilbe that I'll do concerts every day for two weeks... We shall see!

You can watch all of my videos on my renewed website. Other latest and greatest videos are coming as well!

Classical guitar solo

Classical guitar duo

and

Baroque chamber music trio music