[I apologize for the font codes in my previous message posting!=A0 Here it i= s=20 again, cleaned up]:
Earlier this week I spent three days for work in Germany. My brand new lute and I had some enjoyable meetings with some fellow lute player colleagues=20 from this lute forum First, on Saturday night I had a delightful dinner (third time this year!) with Thomas Schall who is becoming like an old friend to=20 me.=A0=20 So much to talk about and to share in our enthusiasm for the lute. But this time we drove south of Frankfurt to Aschaffenburg in northern Bavaria to din= e in a baroque (17th C.) castle with his friend Meinhard Gerlach, a very fine lutenist (and guitarist) and a composer of new works for the 13 course lute=20 and for lute and soprano as attested by his marvelous CD called "Silence"=20 (available from www.lautenist.de). I even took out my lute after dinner and=20 played it briefly in an empty arched-ceilinged room, so tempted was I by the accoustics and the setting, exotic for any American! Then, the next day I met lutelisters Stephan Olbertz and Rainer aus dem=20 Spring=20 for a wonderful read-through of the Vallet lute quartets at the flat of Mark= =20 Wheeler.=20 I met all three for the first time and the dinner conversation afterwards wa= s=20 inspirational and mind-opening Hats off, too, to Martin Shepard who made=20 several of the exquisite lutes we played on that evening! I encourage all to pay attention to Mark Wheeler's new renaissance trio called Pantagruel, too! (www.pantagruel.de) who will perform in London April= =20 17th. I understand, too, that they will soon release their first CD, but for now there are mp3 files to listen to on their website. Mark is a great musician=20 with many original ideas at his fingertips. He is a wonderful improviser on the lute. The power of the Internet to share and exchange ideas and information on thi= s list is, at times, unsurpassable, but never a true replacement for meeting (and playing music with!) others in person This list is a great way to enabl= e such meetings when one is fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time It is fascinating to see and hear other players on different continents dealing with the same issues in lutes, music, technical matters, interpretation, and repertoire. The same goes for the times over the last=20 year and a half when I've been priviledged to meet fellow lutelisters Ed Durbrow, David= e Rebuffa, Stewart McCoy, Martin Shepard, and David van Edwards in their respective countries. - Kenneth Be (Cleveland) --
