{"id":3166,"date":"2015-12-03T16:28:44","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T00:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=3166"},"modified":"2016-03-08T10:52:35","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T18:52:35","slug":"pablo-villegas-talks-about-his-new-cd-and-the-challenges-of-playing-concertos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/pablo-villegas-talks-about-his-new-cd-and-the-challenges-of-playing-concertos\/","title":{"rendered":"Pablo Villegas Talks About his New CD and the Challenges of Playing Concertos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From all outward appearances, Pablo S\u00e1inz Villegas has led a charmed life. A native of the La Rioja region of northern Spain, he started playing the guitar at age six, and by his teens was routinely winning guitar prizes, including the prestigious Andr\u00e9s Segovia Award and, much later, the Gold Medal at the first Christopher Parkening International Guitar Competition; more than 30 in all.<\/p>\n<p>These honors have led to numerous recordings and a globe-trotting career (nearly 40 countries on five continents) as a solo performer and\/or a featured player working with orchestras and chamber groups (more than 70 different ones so far), as well as appearances in smaller configurations. This year alone, he has played in Spain several times, Germany, Peru, Brazil, and in 12 US states (plus Puerto Rico), most with local orchestras, many featuring Joaqu\u00edn Rodrigo\u2019s <em>Concierto de Aranjuez<\/em>. (Next year he\u2019s featuring Rodrigo\u2019s <em>Fantasia para un Gentilhombre<\/em> at a number of his symphonic dates.)<\/p>\n<p>Villegas has always used his guitar artistry as a springboard to do charity work, dating back to when he was eight years old in La Rioja and his mother urged him to play for the elderly in nursing homes. Within the past decade, he formed a group called The Music Without Borders Legacy, which promotes classical guitar, and music in general, among disadvantaged kids in San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico. He has helped reach some 15,000 children, and more recently he\u2019s shifted his attentions to La Rioja, working with the help of a bank to start music programs during what has been an economically challenging time for the region.<\/p>\n<p>Though he still spends much time in Spain, Villegas has lived in New York City for 15 years, and it was at nearby Westchester Studios that he recorded his excellent and superb-sounding new album of solo-guitar pieces, <em>Americano<\/em> (on the Harmonia Mundi label) with noted producer\/engineer Adam Abeshouse. The disc is a sort of musical tour of the Americas, with Villegas performing pieces from Brazil (Heitor Villa-Lobos, Luiz Bonf\u00e1, Jo\u00e3o Pernambuco), Venezuela (Antonio Lauro, Pedro Elias-Guti\u00e9rrez), Paraguay (Agust\u00edn Barrios), Mexico (Agust\u00edn Lara), and the United States (John Williams, Leonard Bernstein). Oh, and there\u2019s one geographical exception\u2014a tango from French composer Roland Dyens. But it\u2019s a lively and wide-ranging program that moves easily among styles\u2014from folk dances (jaropo, samba, tango, waltz, maxixe) to a medley from the Broadway show <em>West Side Story<\/em> to American bluegrass (which also features rhythm guitarist James Chirillo). It\u2019s an invigorating ride, magnificently played.<\/p>\n<p><em>CG<\/em> caught up with Villegas in Oklahoma City at the 2015 Guitar Foundation of America convention in June. I found him to be passionate, articulate, warm, witty, and, like his music, thoroughly engaging. We started by discussing his fondness for the <em>Concierto de Aranjuez<\/em> and for playing concertos in general.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wGUAV39b0hY?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br clear=\"all\"><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>CLASSICAL GUITAR:<\/strong> I would think it would be a challenge to play an iconic piece such as the <em>Aranjuez<\/em> with different orchestras, where every conductor is going to have a slightly different interpretation and the instrumentation might be different.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PABLO VILLEGAS:<\/strong> When you\u2019re playing with orchestras, of course, there is the orchestra and the conductor and then there is you, so in the end it\u2019s trying to get an agreement between these elements, and the most important ones are going to be the conductor and yourself. The conductor is usually very open to what the soloist has to say, because they trust that you know the piece even better than they do sometimes\u2014because we have spent years of our lives learning the piece, going back to the piece, trying to find the magic of that piece between the notes; so they\u2019re open to letting you find what you want to say through this piece. But I also am always open to their ideas, because that enriches the interpretation. Sometimes they might have a perspective that is different from mine and that\u2019s always going to benefit the piece in the end. That process of discovering the piece together is very important.<\/p>\n<p>For me, before going to the first rehearsal with the orchestra, it\u2019s important to talk to the conductor, get to know him, and then go over the piece\u2014not only defining the tempi, but also the general emotional statements you want to transmit through it, and the general musical shape of it\u2014the parts where you want to create momentum, the parts that are most emotional for you in each movement. In what places do we need to be careful to play together; perhaps make eye contact? There are all these different subtleties that, depending on the conductor, can be different.<\/p>\n<p>And as you said, each orchestra is going to bring a different emotion and atmosphere to a piece. In the end it\u2019s, how do you bring the three personalities together and then invite the audience\u2014the fourth personality\u2014into it? If the three personalities on the stage are in synch, it\u2019s going to be much easier for the audience. They feel welcomed to that journey. As a soloist playing with an orchestra, it\u2019s nice to be open to what the whole group wants to say. You accept it as a unique version in the moment in that place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> What other concertos do you like to play?<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> I\u2019ve played so many guitar concerti and I can honestly say I like many things about all of them. Of course, besides the Rodrigo <em>Aranjuez<\/em> and <em>Fantasia<\/em> [<em>para un Gentilhombre<\/em>], I\u2019ve played the most traditional ones\u2014the Villa-Lobos [<em>Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra<\/em>]; the Ponce [<em>Concierto de la Sur<\/em>] which I recorded with Alondro de la Parra; the <em>Castelnuovo-Tedesco<\/em>; older ones by Giuliani, Vivaldi. But I\u2019ve also played some of the more off-stream concerti, like Lorenzo Palomo\u2019s <em>Nocturnos de Andalucia<\/em>, which is a piece that was commissioned by Pepe Romero. Actually, Lorenzo Palomo is writing a new guitar concerto right now, and that should be ready next season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> What sort of input would you have in something like that? Is he sending you ideas, or are you giving suggestions?<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> I like to give a lot of freedom to the composer, and it depends on how open he is to me being involved in the process. For me, it\u2019s important to talk before he starts composing the piece. If the composer knows the guitar, or doesn\u2019t know the guitar, that\u2019s going to make a difference, because if he doesn\u2019t, he\u2019s going to need more guidance on how to approach the instrument and the orchestra. In this case, with Lorenzo Palomo, he knows the guitar and he has composed a lot of things for guitar.<\/p>\n<p>Other contemporary concerti I\u2019ve played: I did the premiere of Tomas Marco\u2019s <em>Concierto de C\u00f3rdoba<\/em> a couple of years ago in C\u00f3rdoba, Spain [the piece is dedicated to Villegas]. Also, Joan Guinjoan has a beautifully written guitar concerto. Another recent concerto I\u2019m playing is called <em>Travadors<\/em> by John Corigliano [debuted by Sharon Isbin in 1993]. I played it in Lima [Peru] last month\u2014it\u2019s so beautiful and atmospheric, and the guitar is so well treated.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow night, I\u2019m playing the premiere of one by Sergio Assad called <em>Concierto Popular do Rio<\/em>. A lot of the concerts I\u2019m doing now\u2014maybe 80 percent\u2014are with orchestras, and 20 percent [solo] recitals. So, one of my missions is to develop the symphonic repertoire for the guitar. At the beginning of this process, I asked Sergio Assad to write a concerto and he agreed and was excited about it. This year is the 50th anniversary of the Duo Assad so it was good timing. He asked me, \u201cWhat kind of concerto do you want?\u201d I told him, \u201cSomething that speaks to you, to your truth,\u201d and also, \u201cI want this to excite general audiences. I don\u2019t want it to be too intellectual.\u201d He said he was open to write in the Spanish style, Argentinean, or Brazilian. I said, \u201cIf you\u2019re asking me, I say write something Brazilian because that\u2019s your culture, that\u2019s your language.\u201d He liked the idea, so he wrote this concerto we are about to premiere. In the last movement, which is named after a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, there\u2019s even a samba.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been very exciting working with him. He was in charge of everything, and the guitar parts are beautifully designed. I think people are really going to like it. Orchestras are always looking for new things to play.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> Do orchestras differ much continent to continent? You mentioned playing in Peru recently: Is there a particular style or strength of South American orchestras?<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> I\u2019m not sure there is a South American orchestra style, but there is definitely a style for a Russian orchestra, for example, and there are certain subtle differences between orchestras in the United States, Russia, and Europe. Like, the brasses here in the United States are fantastic, amazing! The strings in Russia are so good, so strong, and can play <em>anything<\/em>. But there aren\u2019t as many differences now, because musicians travel more\u2014there are Russian musicians in the United States and European musicians in South America, and so on.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/pablo2.png?resize=1133%2C599\" alt=\"pablo2\" width=\"1133\" height=\"599\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/pablo2.png?w=1133&amp;ssl=1 1133w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/pablo2.png?resize=300%2C159&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/pablo2.png?resize=1024%2C541&amp;ssl=1 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1133px) 100vw, 1133px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> Let\u2019s talk about your new CD, <em>Americano<\/em>. It\u2019s an interesting concept to, in effect, unite the musical traditions of North, Central, and South America. How was the idea born?<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> Everything started when I met John Williams, the film composer [<em>Star Wars<\/em>, <em>Jaws<\/em>, <em>Schindler\u2019s List<\/em>; he\u2019s had 49 Academy Award nominations]. He\u2019s a good friend of Christopher Parkening and he was composing a piece for the Parkening International Guitar Competition, and since I had won the 2006 competition, Mr. Parkening asked me to premiere that piece [\u201cRounds\u201d]. I said, \u201cWow, that\u2019s a great honor!\u201d So I went to LA and John Williams invited me to his house two days before the premiere and it was amazing to meet him. He\u2019s such a humble, beautiful human being. He welcomed me into his home, sat me by his piano and we went through the piece over a few hours. Everything was so well-written.<\/p>\n<p>After that I asked him for permission to record it and he said he was honored. So I thought, \u201cIf I\u2019m going to record it, how can I build a concept around it?\u201d And I had been thinking about how the guitar is so popular in these two huge American continents. Not just there, of course\u2014it\u2019s become the most popular instrument in the world. So I thought that for this CD, I would explore the evolution and repertoire of the guitar in the American continents. I looked at it as a musical journey: A guitar flying in from Spain, and since I\u2019ve lived many years in New York, it was also partly my own story\u2014a Spaniard going to New York.<\/p>\n<p>I decided to start the journey exploring different countries\u2014Brazilian music with Villa-Lobos, and different folk music that inspired Villa-Lobos; and his music also has the inspiration of French music\u2014Nadia Boulanger and all these influences from Europe. So it\u2019s a mixture of European influences on the American continents. Like the <em>jaropo<\/em>, this Venezuelan music is a mixture of two rhythms\u20146\/8 and 3\/4\u2014playing at the same time. In Spain, those are traditional rhythms, and we combine them, but we don\u2019t play them simultaneously. The <em>buleria<\/em> is that combination, or a <em>petenera<\/em>. But in South America, they combined both rhythms and create a new one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> Can you articulate some of the other differences between the great South American writers and the great Spanish writers? What is \u201cSouth American\u201d about Barrios that you\u2019re not going to hear in Turina or Torroba?<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> That\u2019s an excellent question. If I had to give a score, I\u2019d say they\u2019re on the same level. The South American continent has produced so much repertoire, and the guitar has been a very important instrument for the culture there. If I think of it in an analytical way, in Spain we have the influence of the European tradition, and also the particular Spanish traditions: flamenco music on one hand\u2014Falla, Granados, and others inspired by the roots of flamenco\u2014and also from the folk music of Spain. Sometimes people don\u2019t think about these two roots.<\/p>\n<p>The flamenco music is about grounded rhythms: You never see a flamenco dancer jumping in the air! They\u2019re always stamping on the floor. But folk music is all about leaping and being up <em>there<\/em>\u2014the <em>jotas<\/em>. I danced that as a kid. These two opposite forces form the basis for so much Spanish music\u2014these two rhythms.<\/p>\n<p>I would say South American music is also defined by rhythms, but in a different way. As I said before, the rhythms in South America developed in all these unique directions because of the influence of the native cultures that were there. So you get the samba, bossa nova, chacarera, jaropa. The versatility and diversity of South American music is so rich, it\u2019s been a great way to complement the repertoire of the guitar. \u201cComplement\u201d isn\u2019t even the right word. It\u2019s more than that.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s helped make the guitar what it is. So, it\u2019s the tradition of the Spanish repertoire and then this <em>huge<\/em> contribution from the Americas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> The Barrios pieces you chose to record are ones a lot of people know.<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> That\u2019s true, but for me, \u201cUn Sue\u00f1o en la Floresta\u201d is one of the most soulful pieces ever written for the guitar, so I couldn\u2019t leave it off! Barrios is very important to this CD. Back when there were no airplanes, he would cross the Atlantic [from South America] for two months to tour in Europe and he was very popular there. So there was this interchange between Europe and South America. He was so proud of his culture and he brought some of that to Europe and influenced people there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> I hadn\u2019t heard these versions of songs from <em>West Side Story<\/em>. The arrangements are by Jorge Morel?<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> And further revised by Miguel Ubis.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the transition is between Agustin Lara\u2019s \u201cGranada\u201d and Leonard Bernstein\u2019s West Side Story suite.<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> Well, it\u2019s just crossing the border from Mexico into the US! [Laughs] And \u201cGranada\u201d was also arranged by Morel and Ubis.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> Which brings us to the American music selections. \u201cKansas City Kitty\u201d reminds me of Django Reinhardt\u2019s version of American jazz, whereas \u201cDear Old Dixie\u201d and \u201cBig-Eared Mule\u201d sound like more traditional American folk-country songs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> Exactly. That also has a story: I was at the Grand Teton Music Festival [in Wyoming] two years ago and while we were there, our friend Tom Miller said, \u201cI think you should listen to some real bluegrass music from this region.\u201d Of course I had heard banjo music before, but [later] when I thought about what piece to include from the United States, I said, \u201cWhat if I could play some banjo music on the guitar?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> When it says in the notes on the album that you re-strung your guitar for those \u201cbanjo\u201d pieces, what does that mean?<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> I converted my six strings into a five-string guitar and the fifth string I changed it to the <em>prima<\/em>\u2014the first string. So you put the first string on the fifth and then you change the E into D, I think, and then you tune it in G major. You put the sixth string away and you have a banjo!<\/p>\n<p><strong> CG:<\/strong> It has that metallic banjo sound.<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> I know! I didn\u2019t want to play banjo, although I probably could have done that. \u201cLet\u2019s make this a wink to the history of the banjo and the popular music in the US.\u201d So I was so excited the first time I heard how much it sounded like a banjo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> Is anyone horrified?<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> So far, no.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> It\u2019s early.<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> [Laughs] Are you horrified?<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> No, but it\u2019s a bit of a jolt, an adjustment, at the end of the album after what\u2019s come before.<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> It\u2019s only about three minutes. These are almost like bonus pieces, like encore pieces. I think it\u2019s good to\u2014<\/p>\n<p><strong>CG:<\/strong> Shake people up?<\/p>\n<p><strong>VILLEGAS:<\/strong> Yes. Even if they\u2019re horrified. Because it\u2019s new. People are often horrified by new things. I\u2019m not going to become a banjo player! [Laughs] And in the end it\u2019s about music. It\u2019s about emotions. It\u2019s about having a good time. We\u2019re there to entertain and inspire people through music.<\/p>\n<p>We are experiencing a beautiful moment with the guitar. There are great, <em>amazing<\/em> guitarists all over the world. The classical-music world, in terms of symphonies, is paying a lot more attention to the guitar because they\u2019re looking for new audiences, and the new audiences relate more to the guitar than other instruments. There are audiences who have never been in a hall to listen to a symphony. The guitar speaks to them. More and more, orchestras are open to exploring the borders [between music styles] that 20 years ago were like . . . a sacrilege, a sin. Look at [cellist] Yo-Yo Ma. He plays Schumann one day and the next day he\u2019s playing the Silk Road [a free-wheeling ensemble of musicians from different traditions] with banjo music and all these other things. All these people are trying different things and that\u2019s good for music. It brings in new perspectives, new ways of looking at music. Why not, if you do it with respect and caring and putting your emotions into it? That\u2019s what art and music is about. Music is very profound and it\u2019s the language of emotions. And our job is to inspire people. But we are also entertainers.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/store.elizabethl27.sg-host.com\/collections\/featured-products\/products\/no-380-winter-2015\" target=\"_blank\">This article originally appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of <em>Classical Guitar<\/em>.<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/store.elizabethl27.sg-host.com\/collections\/featured-products\/products\/no-380-winter-2015\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/380_COVER-228x300.jpg?resize=228%2C300\" alt=\"001_380_COVER.indd\" width=\"228\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3058\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/380_COVER.jpg?resize=228%2C300&amp;ssl=1 228w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/380_COVER.jpg?resize=777%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 777w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/380_COVER.jpg?w=900&amp;ssl=1 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From all outward appearances, Pablo S\u00e1inz Villegas has led a charmed life. A native of the La Rioja region of northern Spain, he started playing the guitar at age six, and by his teens was routinely winning guitar prizes, including the prestigious Andr\u00e9s Segovia Award and, much later, the Gold Medal at the first Christopher Parkening International Guitar Competition; more than 30 in all. These honors have led to numerous recordings and a globe-trotting career (nearly 40 countries on five [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":3189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/pablo.png?fit=1847%2C876&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}