In September last year, I started learning Czech, in order to speak to people at a friend's wedding scheduled the following year. At that time, I was working extremely hard on my guitars, often working all day but somehow unable to switch off in the evenings. However, when I started learning Czech, it gave my mind something else other than guitars to focus on, and helped me relax. Very soon, I was rewarded for my efforts. I found a truly extraordinary Czech guitarist called Stepan Rak.
One day I was scrolling through facebook, and I noticed a video of a guitarist and the description was in Czech. So I watched the video and thought, “Wow, what a great guitarist!” and then just went on with my day. However, not long after, he appeared on my facebook again, and again I thought his guitar playing was incredible, so I looked up who he was and discovered that he is perhaps the most prominent player guitar player in the Czech Republic. I became obsessed with his piece, Song for David, and it really impressed me that he wrote his own, really fantastic, compositions, because usually classical guitarists don’t compose too.
As I delved deeper into Stepan Rak’s work, I realized that I had discovered a true treasure. Behind him is a whole lifetime of fantastic guitar music. Not only that, but he has a distinctive style, which he has cultivated and brought to a state of mastery. Sometimes you come across an artist who is truly authentic, with the skill and conviction to develop their own voice. This is what I feel listening to his guitar playing. It really inspires me; I hope I can achieve a level of artistry close to that in my guitar making.
Interestingly, I visited a guitar maker named Rik Middleton at the beginning of the year for some guidance on guitar making. I mentioned that I had begun learning Czech and that I’d discovered a guitarist named Stepan Rak. Rik told me that he’d met Stepan; that he’d gone to one of his concerts in England about 25 years ago and showed him a guitar he’d made. Rik recalled that they were about the same age, and that Stepan made his instrument sound really good. He said that at that time, Stepan’s methods were considered quite controversial among classical guitar aficionados at that time. He also mentioned that Stepan had an interesting knack of being able to play with his fingernails or with the flesh of his fingers as desired. Hearing Rik recall his encounter with Stepan reminded me of various times I’ve gone to concerts and asked players for feedback too.
The feeling I get from Stepan Rak’s compositions is that he really deeply understands the guitar. So far, I’ve only gotten the same feeling from one other guitar composer, and that’s Augustin Barrios, whose compositions have a similar life and movement to them. I very much hope to attend a Stepan Rak concert one day and perhaps get some feedback on one of my guitars. This is an actual possibility as Stepan is still extremely active giving concerts around the Czech Republic.
Above are some pictures I took on a trip to Prague and Karlovy Vary. As far as I understand, there was once quite a big industry of instrument making in the Czech Republic, particularly in the west. They were known for making guitars, violins, pianos etc. An interesting situation around the wood there, is that previously they would use Czech spruce for their instruments, but it looks like it was used until all the suitable wood for instrument making was gone. They have about 15 conservatoires around the country. Certainly there are enough classical guitar related things going on to keep me occupied if I visit again.