It’s interesting to see the attraction between musicians and their instruments. It’s as if there is a natural bond between them – as if they were born to play their chosen instrument.
David Russell
That’s certainly the case with David Russell. As he tells it, there never really was any doubt he would play the guitar. “I never identified with any other instrument,” he said in a phone interview from his home in Spain. “But it does take luck to find the right instrument.”
In that regard, the Scottish-born Russell had some help, because he comes from a very musical family. “My father was an amateur guitarist,” he said, adding that he was attracted to the instrument almost before he could walk. “I started playing since before I could remember. I’m sure that when I was little I wasn’t really playing the guitar. I just probably thought I was – I was not a child prodigy.” But Russell persisted in his dream to play the guitar, and today he is one of the most sought after concert and recording artists in his instrument.
Russell will be making his long overdue Utah debut on Feb. 28 as part of a lengthy United States tour. “This will be a two-month-long tour,” he said. “We love the States and tour there every year for a total of about two months, but this year it’s going to be at one time.” During his time in the country, Russell and his wife, who always accompanies him on his tours, will visit eight cities where he will perform, hold master classes and teach.
For his Salt Lake City recital, which is sponsored by the Utah Classical Guitar Society, Russell will play a couple of works from his most recent album, The Grandeur of the Baroque, which has just been released: the Suite No. XIV by Silvius Weiss, virtuoso German lutenist, composer and contemporary of J.S. Bach; and the Vingt-Sixième Ordre (26th Suite) by François Couperin, taken from the Pièces de Clavecin.
On the program will also be some later works. “I will be doing music by the 19th century Spanish composer Jose Broca, who wrote some very beautiful music and who is undeservedly unknown today. I’m also doing a new piece by Sérgio Assad called Sandy’s Portrait which he wrote in honor of a benefactor of mine and which I’m premiering during my tour.”
Russell has a fondness for baroque composers. “I’ve done four or five albums of baroque music and I seem to keep coming back to it,” he said. Part of the reason he likes the music of this period so much is because a lot of it can readily be transcribed for guitar. “But you have to choose the right pieces,” he said. “Some pieces can’t be transcribed, because it would kill them.”
Transcribing music originally written for the lute, such as Weiss’ works, is frequently easier than transcribing keyboard works. “There is a certain similarity between the lute and guitar,” Russell said.
Bach, whose music Russell would never be without, is fairly easy to transcribe because Bach transcribed many of his own works. “We can see what he did when he transcribed his own music for different instruments. And I would never not play Bach.”
CONCERT INFO:
- What: David Russell, guitar
- Venue: Salt Lake Recital Hall, 320 E. 200 South
- Time and Date: 8 p.m. Feb. 28
- Tickets: $25
- Web: www.ucgs.org
ALSO:
- Master Class with David Russell
- Venue: Salt Lake Recital Hall
- Time and Date: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 29
- Tickets: observers $15, participants $35
- Web: www.ucgs.org