Staff Video Picks - David Collett

We thought it might be fun to poll everyone at GSI about some of their favorite videos, and we started at the top with GSI president David Collett. So, with the caveat that we all agreed that our ‘favorites’ change on a weekly basis, here are the five videos that came to David’s mind when we asked:

1. I love the new video just released on the 1989 Rodriguez. Never heard such a short piece from Mertz, and it’s catchy! Doesn’t hurt to have a great player like Andrea de Vitis who makes it look so easy, and to hear it done on a guitar with so much energy and clean responsiveness to bring this lively piece to our ears:

2. This one from Celil Refik Kaya blew me away the first time I saw it, and after dozens of views it still blows me away with each repeat viewing. What a tough piece, very few people play this, so it’s a delight to hear this on this cypress “Torres” replica, with its old-world sound, dialed in by Kenneth Brogger. Really fitting:

3. Irina Kulikova is fast becoming one of my favorites here at GSI. Hearing her do Chopin on Segovia’s Ramirez? Tough to beat:

4. This might sound cliché to include a performance of the Bach “Chaconne” but this one is a standout. Marc Teicholz playing it on arguably the VERY LAST Hauser I ever built. This was recorded in front of a LIVE audience in our showroom and to make the story even more suspenseful, the lucky new owner who had just bought the guitar decided to fly in and hear (and see it) for the first time in Marc’s hands. Well, this is the performance and what a guitar, what a performance. The indescribable shared energy from the crowd with the rise and fall of every section, every phrase, every note. One of those moments in time, perfectly captured on video. And since I was there, I can say honestly that this video does justice to live performance. Goosebumps every time I re-watch this. Turn this one up.

5. Andy York on an 1888 Torres. This was a total shocker. Andy wasn’t big on old guitars when he came and we were a little unsure how it would turn out to have him play one of his newer compositions (one I hadn’t even heard before) on an old guitar – seemed a bit unusual. But the result was electrifying – Andy completely and immediately connected with this guitar in an almost spooky way and just channeled its sound potential thorough his heartfelt piece, “Yamour”. The guitar, the piece, the performer – all elements were there to create this seductive, meditative and “not-of-this-world” performance.