Modern Guitar Trio

• About The Modern Guitar Trio
• Forthcoming Release
• Interview with Roland Chadwick
• Programs
• Contact The Modern Guitar Trio
• Audio Clips

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

Audio Clips