Klimt!, otherwise known as the Gustav Klimt String Quartet, says in the booklet notes (in Dutch and English) that its aim with Kiss the Guitar Player was "to portray a kaleidoscopic view of the Dutch guitar scene." This the group does, but, as often happens when something is done well, it also accomplishes something beyond the original goal. The music is light, and the album title whimsical, but this album does nothing less than reflect on the relationship between the guitar and the bowed strings, in the past as well as the ...
Read More
Klimt!, otherwise known as the Gustav Klimt String Quartet, says in the booklet notes (in Dutch and English) that its aim with Kiss the Guitar Player was "to portray a kaleidoscopic view of the Dutch guitar scene." This the group does, but, as often happens when something is done well, it also accomplishes something beyond the original goal. The music is light, and the album title whimsical, but this album does nothing less than reflect on the relationship between the guitar and the bowed strings, in the past as well as the present. When you first hear the quartet playing funky music in the opening Gustav on the Rocks, by guitarist Peter Tiehuis, you may think this is another of the many attempts at Kronos Quartet cloning that appeared in CD catalogs, but the program quickly becomes more diverse. The key is that most of the music was newly comissioned, from performing guitarists, and it set only a single condition: the composer was not to use a concerto-like texture, with the strings backing up the...
Read Less
