KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 21, 2021 \u2013 A veteran of numerous albums, classical guitarist Adam Levin had never had the pleasure of seeing one of his recordings reach the Billboard charts. Now, in the span of 10 weeks, he\u2019s done it twice \u2013 landing the top spot with two different albums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June, \u201cMusic From the Promised Land,\u201d his debut album with the mandolin and guitar chamber group Duo Mantar, reached No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Traditional Classical Albums rankings. This time it\u2019s his solo work, \u201c21st<\/sup> Century Spanish Guitar, Volume 4,\u201d which topped the chart the week of Sept. 4 \u2013 sharing space on a list with such big names as composer John Williams, violinist Hilary Hahn, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Natalie Zhu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m definitely in good company. It\u2019s humbling to know that I\u2019m surrounded by such powerhouse superstars, many of whom have influenced a generation or more of younger musicians,\u201d said Levin, a teacher of classical guitar at the 溏心vlog免费B站. \u201cI hope that my ascent to No. 1 on the Billboard charts will have some positive impact on the classical guitar world and its future trajectory, especially as it pertains to the promotion and dissemination of new music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m overjoyed about these two album successes because I\u2019ve invested the last 15 years in expanding the repertoire for classical guitar,\u201d he added, \u201cwhether it\u2019s as a soloist or with any one of my chamber music groups, including Duo Mantar, Duo Sonidos, or The Great Necks Guitar Trio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c21st<\/sup> Century Spanish Guitar, Volume 4,\u201d released Aug. 20 by Frameworks Records, is the culmination of 15 years of researching, courting composers to write for the guitar, commissioning, and recording a repertoire that spans four generations of new Spanish composers. The four volumes include more than 30 commissioned works, almost all of which have never been previously recorded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt really answers the critical question: What comes next in the long line of Spanish composition,\u201d said Levin. \u201cWe have a well-spring of original compositions and transcriptions by Joaqu\u00edn Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla, Isaac Alb\u00e9niz, Enrique Granados, Joaqu\u00edn Turina, among others \u2013 pillars of Spanish composition who established the 20th<\/sup>-century classical Spanish sound. I grew up studying this music, performing it as a young kid, and then in my mid-20s, I asked myself what does the future hold for Spanish classical music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Levin, a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of virtuoso Eliot Fisk at the New England Conservatory, started looking for an answer as a Fulbright Scholar in Madrid, Spain, in 2008, proposing to study and perform Spanish music written from the 20th<\/sup> and 21st<\/sup> centuries. He quickly realized that he had landed upon a \u201cnew Spanish renaissance in composition,\u201d he said. The last four generations of Spanish composers were creating music as unique and vital as their storied ancestors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUpon arriving in Madrid and downloading hundreds of dollars of music from iTunes, I realized the music of Spain was far more varied, diverse, complex, layered and cosmopolitan than I had previously imagined,\u201d he said. \u201cThe music had an unmistakable Spanish DNA, but composers were no longer only searching for the quintessential Spanish sound, but cross-pollinating with music of other cultures, genres, and centuries of themes, forms and compositional styles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other than Gabriel Estarellas \u2013 Levin\u2019s Fulbright mentor and professor of guitar at the Real Conservatorio Superior de M\u00fasica de Madrid \u2013 no one was championing this music. So, Levin took on the mission himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2008, Levin has commissioned nearly 40 new chamber and solo pieces by four generations of Spanish composers, all of which have appeared in the \u201c21st Century Spanish Guitar\u201d series or on other recordings. Some of the composers are descendants of legends \u2013 such as Jos\u00e9 Luis Turina, grandson of Joaqu\u00edn Turina. The project has been backed not only by a Fulbright scholarship, but also a Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship, the Program for Cultural Cooperation and several private patrons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final volume in the series \u2013 a double CD set recorded in a converted masonic temple in Roslindale, Massachusetts, with engineer John Weston, and in Badajoz, Spain, with engineer Luis del Toro \u2013 includes pieces from master composer Leonardo Balada, who was born in 1933; his disciple Jorge Mu\u00f1iz, born more than 40 years later, and composers in the years between. The 11 tracks range in style from the avant-garde in Jos\u00e9 Luis Turina\u2019s \u201cArboretum,\u201d to the American bluegrass-flavor of Mu\u00f1iz\u2019s three-part \u201cPortraits from the Heartland,\u201d to Sephardic tradition in Broton\u2019s \u201cSonata Sefardita.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the highlights is the first-ever recording of Cuban-Spanish composer Eduardo Morales-Caso\u2019s electrifying \u201cConcierto de La Herradura,\u201d in which Levin is backed by the Orchestra of Extremadura under the baton of \u00c1lvaro Albiach. \u201cWith its vibrant and personal voice, the concerto is riveting,\u201d said Levin. \u201cMorale-Caso has a natural understanding of the guitar and writes music in a way that places him among the finest composers to have written for the instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Levin credits Fisk for lighting the fire under him to study in Spain, while also crediting Estarellas with being a guiding force and liaison to numerous renowned Spanish composers, including the late Ant\u00f3n Garc\u00eda Abril and Crist\u00f3bal Halffter. But the most enriching and inspiring moments came working alongside these living classical composers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWorking with composers is a unique and inspiring experience and provides us with the critical intel necessary to give the most convincing interpretation possible,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the luxury to speak with Bach, Scarlatti, Sor, Alben\u00edz or De Falla, or any of the number of great composers of the past. For these composers, we have to rely on secondary and tertiary sources to interpret their work.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with being a touring performer and music advocate, Levin is a teacher at 溏心vlog免费B站 and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is also the co-founder of Kithara Project (www.kitharaproject.org), whose mission is to improve the lives of children and youth through classical guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Kithara Project hosts four year-round tuition-free, community-based guitar programs in Boston, Albuquerque and Mexico City. It is currently completing a capital campaign and has started construction on a music school in the community of Yuguelito in Mexico City. Construction is expected to be completed by end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through his now 12 albums, his goal has been to expand in the classical repertoire for future guitarists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis project is all in vain if I can\u2019t make the connection to the next generation of guitarists. For my students, I aim to bridge the sounds and traditions of old-world Spanish music with the Spanish compositional trends of today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy pedagogy is infused with sensitivity, adaptability, flexibility and openness to music and musical forms across cultures and the history of music,\u201d he added. \u201cWith this philosophy in mind, we have the capacity to listen to music in a different way, and make more informed and authentic interpretations. Being a musician brings with it the responsibility to push boundaries and walk the tight-rope. Exploring new music is one of those tight-rope acts and crossing it together will undoubtedly usher us into a new frontier.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 21, 2021 \u2013 A veteran of numerous albums, classical guitarist Adam Levin had never had the pleasure of seeing one of his recordings reach the Billboard charts. Now, in the span of 10 weeks, he\u2019s done it twice \u2013 landing the top spot with two different albums. In June, \u201cMusic From […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":77489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77484"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77588,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77484\/revisions\/77588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}