About The Modern Guitar Trio
 Roland Chadwick, Vincent Lindsey-Clark, Roland Gallery
Vincent Lindsey-Clark and Roland Gallery of the highly
acclaimed Segovia Guitar Trio join Roland Chadwick, renowned
Australian guitarist to form the Modern Guitar Trio.
Modern Guitar Trio concerts are unique in that the players
perform exclusively their own compositions and for the
past two years they have been redefining the classical
guitar concert to enthusiastic audiences throughout the
country.
The programmes are as varied and distinctive as the personalities
within the group and they reflect the diverse interests
of the performers. The music is both moving and exhilarating
and presented in an informal an entertaining setting. They
were recently named ”the UK’s most exciting,
adventurous and entertaining classical guitar group”.
 Their concerts feature works by all three players:
Roland Chadwick’s ever popular ‘Letter from
LA’ and his emotionally charged new work, ‘The
Wendy House’; Vincent Lindsey-Clark’s ‘Sonata
Melodica’ is rhythmic and colourful, and carries
the listener on an exciting musical journey; ‘Two
Fusion Pieces’ by Roland Gallery explore jazz, latin
and rock influences and express a sensuousness that can
only be found on the Spanish Guitar.
A new CD by the Modern Guitar Trio, to be recorded in
October of this year is scheduled for release by Resonator
Records in 2005.
The group’s recording of ‘Letter From LA’ is
available on Roland Chadwick’s CD ‘The Revealing’.
Forthcoming Release
THE MODERN GUITAR TRIO - Resonator Records
Interview with Roland Chadwick
Excerpt from an Interview Roland gave to Tim Panting,
Reviews Editor of Classical Guitar Magazine about the Modern
Guitar Trio.
Tell me about how the Trio got started.
In 1999/2000 I was putting together
the resources I needed for the recording of "The
Revealing" and I needed
a couple of guitarists for
the recording of my guitar trio, "Letter From LA".
Through a mutual friend I met Roland Gallery and as he
(strangely) lives just 2 blocks away from me in
Ealing, is the same age and was born in the same month
and has the same
first name with the same spelling - well, he had to be
the man! He
recommended that I try out Vincent Lindsey-Clark who turned
out to be a bit
good and for the recording engineer they recommended John
Taylor. I was made
up. Being new to the London music scene at that time I
no idea of how much
experience these two had but the recording went very well
and was done on I
think on only two or three rehearsals. It was only later
that I heard some
recordings of the Segovia Guitar Trio and then I realised
who I was dealing
with. Once the CD was released came the problem of promoting
it and as the
English Chamber Orchestra weren't always available it seemed
a good idea to
get Roland and Vincent to go out for the odd concert here
and there.
Eventually we needed more material and I arranged the Three
Kisses for Jenny
from The Revealing and Vincent mentioned that he'd written
a piece called
Cymetry and Roland G produced 2 jazz fusion pieces that
he'd penned.
Meanwhile I came up with a Song and Dance and for an encore
piece I arranged
a set of variations I'd written on Yankee Doodle. By this
point we were
being asked to do full concerts and so with the addition
of a solo each we had a full program.
It was only later that we realised that we had formed an
actual trio and that something special was happening regarding
the program
we were currently playing and the future direction that
a trio of
guitarist/composers might take. You see, there a quite
a few guitar
ensembles that have a resident composer but to have all
three of us being
composers struck us as being something quite unusual.
Who decides on the repertoire?
Well so far we only play music that has been written
by
one or other of the members of the trio and that's the
thing that struck us
as being fairly unique about the trio from the get go.
There are quite a few
guitar ensembles that have a resident composer - Richard
Charlton in the
Sydney Guitar Trio for example, but we couldn't think of
a group of
classical musicians where all of the players are practising
composers. Now
I'm sure that there will be many letters to the editor
disputing that idea
but the point is that based on the information we had at
the time the idea
of a trio of Classical Guitarist/Composers seemed quite
unique and in it's
own way special.
You have a lot of original material between the three
of
you. What are your views on including some more recognisable
items of
repertoire?
Well I honestly don't see the point of a group of
guitarist/composers including recognisable items of repertoire
(if you mean
compositions by other composers) unless it's to give the
audience something
they know and I think that's a false premise on which to
base a groups
programming decisions. I haven't found that audiences need
to be fed a diet
of the tried and true. In my experience they want something
beautiful,
passionate, expressive and a little exciting on the side
and that's where I
write from. Audiences aren't frightened of new music! They're
hungry for new
music! but that hunger wont be and wasn't satisfied by
music written from a
place of self indulgence and self referential intellectualism.
They don't
want to be astonished or interested they want to be moved,
touched and
inspired and so do I. Programming recognisable items of
repertoire is
definitely not the answer to regaining the interest and
trust of audiences. Imagine music is like sex. You have an
encounter and you
are left with the thought, "well that was interesting" -
are you going to go
there again. Probably not. You have an encounter with someone
you've 'known'
for the last 20 years are you going to be amazed and awe
inspired ... no!
Comfortable maybe but not magical. Or you get to meet and
get to know a new
person and romance blossoms and one thing leads to another
- now that's
moving, that's exciting. Sure, there are combinations and
possibilities I've
left out of that analogy but the point is that you can't
fake it. The music
you hear either is real and a real expression of what it
is to be human and
the humans listening to it are moved, touched and inspired
or they're not
and if they're not they wont go back to it. The job of
the professional
musician is to build an audience base that is moved, touched
and inspired by
what the performer sees as a musical vehicle that contains
that true
expression. And for me that's the Modern Guitar Trio. We're
not a covers
band.
Programs
The Modern Guitar Trio exclusively perform their own compositions which include:
- Letter From LA – Suite in 4 movements – Roland Chadwick
- Sonata Melodica – Vincent Lindsey-Clark
- Two Fusion Pieces – Roland Gallery
- The Wendy House – Suite in 5 movements – Roland Chadwick
- Three Kisses for Jenny – Roland Chadwick
- Song and Dance No.4 – Roland Chadwick
Many of Roland’s compositions are available at www.sibeliusmusic.com. Roland’s Home Page at Sibelius is at http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/user_page.pl?url=rolandchadwick.
Contact The Modern Guitar Trio
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