Mediterraneo

EDITORIAL REVIEWS
Charismatic guitarist Milos Karadaglic debuts on Deutsche Grammophon with an album saluting his instruments Mediterranean heritage.

REVIEW
Listening to the debut album by guitarist Milos Karadaglic, you find yourself wondering where on earth the classical guitar has been lately. As he moves from haunting compositions by Tarrega, Albeniz and Granados to the more abstract shapes of Carlo Domeniconi's Koyunbaba suite, it's as if Karadaglic is shining a brilliant light on the entire heritage of his instrument. "The Seventies was the golden time of the guitar, but the situation was different because there was so much support from the media, the BBC and everybody," says Milos (he's known by just his first name). "Because of Julian Bream and John Williams, the classical guitar really was a household name, but then the world changed, and the kind of music people wanted to listen to changed. I want to wake the guitar up from this hibernation, and show what I can do and what my instrument can do." "Can do" are two words that sit comfortably with Milos. Born 28 years ago in the tiny Balkan country of Montenegro, he felt driven from an early age to be an artist and performer. Since Montenegro has a population of only 600,000 and no discernable classical guitar tradition, making a career on the instrument was what might be called "a big ask". It all began when Milos discovered an ancient and dusty guitar with broken strings on top of a cupboard in his parents' bedroom. Inexplicably, this sorry wreck of an instrument convinced him that he must become a guitarist. Since, as he puts it, "it was still kind of communist then" and there were no private music teachers, he enrolled in the state music school. His progress was blindingly swift. By the age of nine, he was giving public performances, and at 11 he won his first national competition. He was also a talented singer, and his astounding precocity made him a star of Montenegrin TV and radio. It provided a welcome distraction from the chaos tearing the former Yugoslavia apart. Montenegro was never engulfed by the horrors that overtook Bosnia or Croatia, but the population suffered food shortages and travel restrictions, while being in the awkward position of sharing borders with all the combatants. Milos doesn't like to dwell on this historical blackspot. "I don't want to sound as though I experienced the war myself, because I didn't. I didn't have bombs falling on my head, and I didn't lose anybody like other people did. It would be disrespectful of me to talk about it." Fast forward, then, to 1996, when Milos, barely into his teens, had his first opportunity to travel outside Montenegro to play a concert. It was in Paris, and he was dazzled by its western European prosperity and air of pre-Christmas gaiety. While there, he bought his first proper guitar, a José Ramirez model paid for from his parents' savings. A subsequent meeting with Glasgow-born classical guitarist David Russell convinced Milos that he must study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. After taking masterclasses in Belgrade and slaving hard to improve his technique, he took the plunge and sent a homemade tape of his performances to the Royal Academy, where Prof Michael Lewin perceived something special in Milos's playing; he was awarded a scholarship. Subsequently, Milos earned first-class honours and a master's degree, as well as being made a junior fellow of the college. Lewin became his mentor. "I came to the academy as a naïve child, and I had these ideas about music and how I wanted to sound, but I needed somebody to steer it. Michael was incredible because he never stopped me from expressing myself the way I wanted to, but he always helped me express myself better." Lewin's influence has translated into creative assistance on Milos's album, which includes four pieces by Albeniz and Granados that Lewin transcribed for guitar. Milos is especially smitten with Lewin's treatment of Granados's piece, Oriental. "Sometimes, guitar arrangements of piano pieces make too many compromises," he says, "but Michael found a way to keep the artistic quality, but adjusted for the guitar so it always lies naturally under the hand. Oriental is the most exposed piece I have ever played, and you have to really dig inside yourself to express it. I listened to my recording again last night, after not hearing it for a while, and it's really magical." Milos's thematic idea for the album was that it should comprise music from the Mediterranean region. "I was inspired by wonderful records of Segovia playing Granados, Albeniz and Tarrega. There's a huge Arabic influence there because the guitar was brought to Spain by the Moors. Then from the eastern Mediterreanean we have two pieces from Epitaphios, by [Greek composer] Mikis Theodorakis." At the core of the disc is the four-part Koyunbaba suite by the contemporary Italian composer Domeniconi, which Milos holds in almost mystical regard. "I first heard it when I arrived in London 11 years ago. It gripped my imagination because it took me back to my childhood and places in Montenegro where I would go and sit for hours, thinking about the future. It uses very difficult techniques that make the instrument almost not sound like a guitar any more. When I performed it for the first time, people in the audience were crying. I always feel like I'm in a trance when I play it." This is just the beginning for Milos, and his horizons seem limitless. He has been mulling over a variety of plans for broadening the guitar's reach and repertoire. "Julian Bream and John Williams worked with contemporary composers and raised the level of the guitar to establish it as an equal instrument on the concert platform," he says. "I'd love to work with film composers, because film is such an influential medium. To do a soundtrack or a new solo piece would be wonderful. "The guitar needs a renaissance. There isn't a more accessible or beautiful instrument, and I want to bring it to a new generation of listeners." -- Adam Sweeting: The Daily Telegraph

Lovers of the classical guitar have a new hero in the young Montenegran Milos Karadaglic, whose artistry is so compelling that it should win many new admirers. Albéniz, Granados and Tárrega form the Spanish heart of his programme, while Theodorakis's Epitáphios and the haunting Koyunbaba by the Italian Carlo Domeniconi also feature. The playing is lithe, subtle of timbre and transcendentally beautiful. -- Geoffrey Norris, Daily Telegraph, 12 May 2011

FROM THE ARTIST
Milos said of his signing: "Deutsche Grammophon is a home to many of my musical idols. When I was a child, I remember listening to the great guitarist, Andrés Segovia, and dreaming that one day I, too, might have such a career. Now it is becoming a reality and my dreams are being fulfilled more quickly than I could possibly have imagined. I am honoured and excited to begin my collaboration with this fantastic label and hope, through my playing, that I will bring the guitar to a new generation of listeners."

ABOUT THE ARTIST
If you were asked to name classical music's most legendary guitar players, you'd probably come up with Andres Segovia, Julian Bream and John Williams. Milos, who is already being hailed by fans and critics for his brilliant technique and transcendent musicality, may well be on his way to joining them. With his first CD for Deutsche Grammophon, he aims to start bringing a new sense of excitement, and new waves of listeners, to the classical guitar.

"My motto is: there are no problems, only challenges!" declares the 28-year-old musician from Montenegro, the small country on the Adriatic which once formed part of Yugoslavia.

Coming from a homeland with no real classical guitar tradition and a population of only 600,000, the challenges faced by Milos if he was to climb the international guitar-playing ladder were daunting. At least he comes from a family of music lovers, even though none of his relatives is a musician (both his parents are economists, and his younger brother is currently studying for a Masters degree in economics in Madrid).

Before he first wrapped his fingers round a guitar, he had already displayed a natural aptitude for singing.

"Music was very much loved in my family, by my parents and my grandmother," he recalls. "They really encouraged me to sing because the voice is something that comes most naturally. Then when I was eight I said `I really want to learn properly and go to a music school', and there was only one place, which was the music school in Podgorica."

Milos comfortably passed the audition, but then came the problem of what instrument he should study. He picked the guitar because it proved to be the most practical choice.

"I liked the piano very much but my parents said it was too expensive to have one. Then I liked the violin too, but they said `oh, that would be really painful for us!'"

Guitar-wise, the first, and unlikely, object of his desire was an ancient instrument which his father had once been given by his older brother.

"It was a really ugly old black guitar which had been forgotten about and was sitting on top of the cupboard in my parents' bedroom," he recalls. "It had missing strings, it was all dusty and it was terrible. I said `can you give me that, I just want to feel it.' I vividly remember this scene, the moment when I picked it up for the first time and pretended to be a rock star. I said 'this is what I want to play'."

But he didn't play it in a rock'n'roll style. Milos studied strictly classical guitar from day one, according to the program laid down by the state music school.

"It was still kind of Communist then, so there were no private teachers. If you were talented you went to the music school and had sol-fa teaching for the voice, and worked on the instrument you had chosen. This was for six years."

The early Nineties were not the best of times for the Balkans. Although Montenegro didn't suffer the kind of horrors that were visited on Bosnia or Kosovo, it didn't escape unscathed.

"War was happening all around," says Milos. "Montenegro was a part of Yugoslavia and politically it wanted to stay in Yugoslavia, so it was dragged into the conflict. It was the scariest time. I remember the father of some children I played with was killed in the war, so it affected everybody indirectly. I was lucky to have the most unbelievable parents. All the shops were empty and everything was so depressing, but with the little they had they tried to make my brother and myself feel like princes."

For Milos and his family, music provided reassurance and escape. "I remember once there was a power cut and we were trying to keep warm. My mum said 'why don't you bring your guitar and play something for us?' It was like the music kept us going."

Meanwhile, Milos's playing was developing at stunning speed. He had never been afraid to perform in public, and as his skills improved he was quick to display them in front of audiences. He had begun making appearances in major concert halls by the time he was 14.

"It was all happening extremely fast and there was a great sense of achievement. I was thrown into concerts and given ridiculously hard pieces to play, but I coped and I always loved it. As soon as I could play a piece I had to play it in front of a thousand people. I think all these experiences in my childhood not only made me a happy person, but also left me equipped for whatever is happening right now. Without the audience I am not complete. The audience makes me come alive."

During the war years, the Montenegrins had felt isolated from the outside world and hadn't been able to travel beyond their own borders. But at last the hostilities ceased, and the restrictions eased. In 1996, Milos was invited to play a concert in Paris, and his trip there remains one of his most special and magical memories.

"I just played a small concert in Paris, but it was my first chance to get out of my country and see the happy Western world," he says, lighting up at the recollection. "I remember my mother and myself walking around the streets of Paris, and suddenly we were in the Champs Elysées. It was just before Christmas and the whole city was lit up. I was just drawn to the shops and their windows. I thought `my God, this is how life should be, in full color'."

It was in Paris too that Milos bought his first serious guitar, a Jose Ramirez instrument would that help him take his playing on to the next level. "My parents gave all their savings so I could buy that guitar," he says. "It's another reason why I see Paris as such a magical place."

Another turning point came when he travelled to Italy to meet the classical guitarist David Russell, who was giving master classes. The ambitious Milos wanted to measure himself against one of the guitar's top practitioners.

"There was a big international competition going on at the same time," he remembers, "and all these older students were watching this kid playing so fast and so clean, and I thought `hmm, they're looking at me!' I started to feel important. Then I played for David Russell, and he said I was very good and should keep working."

When Milos asked where the best place was in the world to study classical guitar, Russell promptly advised him to go to London and aim to enroll at the Royal Academy of Music, as Russell himself had done.

The advice struck home. Milos made the fateful decision that he would specialize in music for his next two years at secondary school.

"It's a huge choice to make when you're 14, but that's how the system works. Everyone was saying `he must do music', but on the other hand I was also a good student in science and the humanities. But I decided to dedicate my life to music."

Determined to get himself to London and the Royal Academy of Music, Milos applied himself single-mindedly to improving his technique and building up his repertoire, winning every available competition in Yugoslavia and taking additional lessons in Belgrade. He had gone as far as he could go in his homeland.

"I decided I would send my material to London. I chose five of my best pieces and recorded a tape of them, and sent it to the Royal Academy. After two months I hadn't heard anything. My mother said `you're only 16, you can try again next year', but I refused to accept it."

Plucking up his courage, he telephoned the Academy, and asked what had happened to his application. "The lady said `wait a minute', and then she came back and said `it's wonderful news! Didn't you get our letter? You've been accepted, the head of studies Michael Lewin will teach you, and you will have a scholarship of such-and-such amount of money. See you in September, bye!'"

So, just turned 17, Milos found himself starting a new life in a strange city. His father accompanied him to London, and was there to give his son a shoulder to cry on when the enormity of what he was about to embark upon briefly overwhelmed him. Fortunately, his teacher, Professor Michael Lewin, understood what he was going through.

"He was the nicest person," says Milos, "and he said `if I didn't know that you are more than good enough to do this, I wouldn't have done this to you and your family because I know what it means. We'll take it one step at a time and you will achieve everything'. For me, from then on, everything was fine."

Despite his undoubted gifts, Milos quickly discovered that he didn't know everything about the classical guitar after all. His teachers in Montenegro hadn't been true guitar specialists, and various imperfections had crept into his technique.

"Michael Lewin gave me a little study by Fernando Sor, and the Sor studies were pieces I had digested in my first year of guitar playing. Then we had the lesson, and I realized that actually I could not do everything that he asked me to. I had to start again and listen and work. Often Michael had to slowly adjust my hand positions, while still preserving the spirit of the music. For the next four years at the Academy I worked and practiced - so many levels, so many different concerts, deadlines and preparations. It was very intense and I didn't do anything apart from practicing and sleeping."

Eventually, Milos graduated with First Class honors in June 2004. Then he continued his studies with a two-year Masters degree in Performance, in which he achieved a Distinction. Following that, he became the first guitarist ever to be made a Meaker Junior Fellow of the RAM, which gave him a further two years' breathing space to study and perform.

Emerging into the world of professional musicianship, he notched up prestigious appearances at the Lucerne Festival, Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room. He had also brought his prize-winning ways to London, collecting the Ivor Mairants Award in 2002 and the Julian Bream Prize (awarded by Bream himself) in 2005. He was also the first guitarist to win the Prince of Wales' Prince's Prize.

Now it's time for Milos to take on the world, and he has planned his debut disc for DG with typical thoroughness. Rather than merely assembling a batch of popular guitar pieces, he has devised a theme for the album which reflects his own history and experiences. He is, as he points out, from the Mediterranean region, but for him that doesn't just mean he should play guitar music from Spain.

"The guitar was brought to Spain by the Moors, and has a huge Arabic influence," he explains. "My part of the world and the eastern Mediterranean were heavily under the influence of the Ottoman empire for 500 years, so there is a clear connection between the eastern and western Mediterranean. I am exactly in the middle of them, and I want to present that on the CD."

Therefore, the material will range from Granados, Albéniz and Tarrega ("to represent the Moorish Spain") to pieces by the Greek composer Theodorakis, some Turkish music, and new arrangements of Montenegrin folk songs. For good measure, "we will have a Boccherini fandango which will even use castanets."

Summing up his feelings about the future, Milos says:

"There isn't a more accessible or more beautiful instrument than the guitar. The guitar repertoire is wonderful and there is a lot of it. It needs to be brought out of its niche and to have a renaissance. This is my mission!"











































































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Number of Discs: 1

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