AN HOUR OF EXCELLENCE BY PERUVIAN MAGICIAN JORGE CABALLERO!!!!!

CGSUNY Newsletter

Fall 2006

By Don Witter Jr.

We were honored this year by a special one hour ALL BACH concert by a living GENIUS and that GENIUS is in the form of the Gentle persona of the "GENTLE MAN" (the direct definition of his last name) JORGE CABALLERO! Jorge just turned 30 and I have been lucky to have personally known him since he was 19. I caught my first glimpse of this outstanding musician in a Masterclass of the supreme Classical Guitar Duo of the ASSAD BROTHERS when they gave a Masterclass at The Manhattan School of Music. I will never forget that day as Jorge played the most magnificent BACH I have heard in my life! - Beautiful tone, crisp ornamentation on the repeats and exceptionally wonderful phrasing. I said in my notes: "THERE IS NOT ONE THING NEGATIVE THEY COULD SAY ABOUT THIS KID"!!! When ODAIR stood up he literally looked down at the performance sheet and while expressing the same words I used in my notes, he extended his statements to include that they would be honored if he were to mention in his biography that he played in their masterclass!! W O W ! You can't get any better than that---the premier Classical Guitar Duo in the world saying "DAMN YOU ARE GOOD". I was at the Merkin Hall New York debut of JORGE and he killed the audience by throwing everything in AND THE KITCHEN SINK!!! Jorge goes for all the gusto whether it be some most gentle pianissimo stroking the string to the most Bullet like succession of notes at WARP STAR TREK SPEED! The three Bach Suites chosen for this performance was memorable for their diversity and textures. They were : Suite BWV1010 (Cello),Suite BWV995 (Lute and Cello) and Sonata BWV 1005.Let me tell you that his performance of the Allegro Assai was so fast, pointed and furiously marvelous that it took your breath away! What makes JORGE CABALLERO so incredible is his mastery of all the levels of performance. He has an astonishing depth of musicianship that is the equal to the finest performing artists in instrumental history. His technique is flawless in every way with the ABSENCE of that nasty BASS STRING SCRAPE in the positional moves. His tone is always perfect in every situation and ranges from that all nail ponticello in varying degrees to the velvet stroking of the most gentle pianissimo! It sends shivers up and down my spine when I hear him. I have heard him at the LUTHIER MUSIC CORP, the best Classical/ Flamenco Guitar shop in the area ( and maybe the country/world) run by Tony Acosta. Jorge would just try out a guitar and play through the most difficult compositions at a blazing piece with an almost bored look- such is the ease of execution of this young master! One day he was continually playing a very sweet piece by Jorge Morel over and over again and I was about to state "OK! OK! I don't need to hear that again and at that moment it hit me that he was tweaking his interpretation and that each playing was an improvement on the previous! The only knock I have had about him ( and I have mentioned this to him since he was 19 ) is that his name should be on the tip of everyone's tongue just like Bream, Williams, Barrueco, Russell and all the other top Artists of the Classical Guitar world! YES YOU HEARD ME RIGHT! HE IS AS GREAT AS WILLIAMS and BREAM! YES HE IS! His choice of Concert works always pushes the envelope with seemingly IMPOSSIBLE TO NEGOTIATE ORCHESTRAL works fitted on 6 strings ( Like the New World Symphony).When he played for the New York Classical Guitar Society a couple of years ago, he played this massive work for us that just WORE US OUT! I mentioned in my review of that concert that he had to retrieve his fingers from around the concert platform so powerful was his execution of that incredible work! He, unfortunately has only a couple of CDs on the market with his last one including the New World Symphony recorded at THE LUTHIER MUSIC CORP. Next month he will be performing with an improvisational group at THE MONKEY-DOMINIC FRASCA'S lovely performance place on 26th Street in Manhattan! Yes folks, JORGE CABALLERO is an artist for the ages and I also caught him for the first time teaching a masterclass at the fantastic MANNES GUITAR SEMINAR this past July and what an exceptionally deep and sensitive teacher devoid of all ego and only wanting to have each student grasp the essence of all the levels of the performance art! I will have to contact BILL BAY of MEL BAY PUBLICATIONS to make sure they record this great young Genius as soon as possible to preserve this once in a lifetime gem. THANKS JORGE FOR SHARING YOUR OLYMPIAN ARTISTRY WITH US!

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