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发表于 2004-3-13 20:19:00
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guitarrisimo.com古典吉他杂志对佩佩的访谈
来源：http://guitarrisimo.com/entrevistas_romero_en.htm
PEPE ROMERO
I met Pepe Romero at the Guitar Festival of Paracho (Mexico). Paracho is the home of Mexico's guitar constructors and it hosts the oldest Mexican guitar festival and competition. Every year some of the most important guitarists come to this small-town to play concerts and to enjoy a place where everything is about the guitar.
After his brilliant concert and a marvellous party of Paracho's Guitar-constructors I recorded the following conversation.
Interview with Pepe Romero
by Michael Neumann
Guitarrisimo: When did you start to play the guitar?
Pepe Romero: I have no conscience of when I began to play the guitar. In fact, I started walking, speaking and playing the guitar at the same time. Everything happened in a very natural way. I began to study the guitar with my father. I am like the continuation of my father’s work. He was my only guitar teacher. I have always been a guitarist; I never thought that when I grow up, I would do this or that. I was a guitarist from the beginning. My earliest memories are associated with the guitar; with my father, always studying; with his friends; with Rogelio Molina, a nearby friend, disciple of Francisco Tárrega, playing the guitar in our home; with artists, painters, sculptors, and with an artistic circle that was visiting us. My father always included us; it was very much the same as it is here in Paracho: all taking part in the process of manufacturing and playing the guitar. It is something that is in the genes, which one learns the natural way. In my case, I did not have any difficulty learning the guitar; it was rather a way of communication.
Guitarrisimo: At what age did it begin to give recitals?
Pepe Romero: My first audience were my father’s friends who were visiting us. I played my first recital at my father’s side when I was 7 years old in a concert in Seville. Then professionally at the age of 13. But as a child I was playing in several places.
Guitarrisimo: Was it the same with your brothers?
Pepe Romero: My brothers learned guitar the same way I did. I began to study musical theory at the age of 5.
Guitarrisimo: How was your father as a teacher?
Pepe Romero: My father was very strict with the repertoire that we could play. For example, we had to learn all the necessary skills to play a piece first. And only when the skills were completely dominated we were allowed to play the whole work. The skills always came first; we were not allowed to learn the skills with the work. But there were works that I liked very much and that were in my abilities. When I was 7 years old I could already play everything that I wanted. I was playing works of Albéniz for example. My father was obsessed by the good sound, with the tone of the guitar. He also taught us not to rush the notes, and to play the phrases in a way that they could be recognized from the beginning and the end.
Guitarrisimo: What signification has the music in your live?
Pepe Romero: As the great composer Joaquín Rodrigo once said to me: When we die we turn into music. I believe that music is something spiritual; it is love; it is the manifestation of the god's creation; it is friendship, it is nature, it is what we see, what we think, and what we believe. All that comes together in the moment we play.
Guitarrisimo: I did not have the privilege of knowing the great Maestro Joaquín Rodrigo. As you knew him very well, could you tell us a little bit about him?
Pepe Romero: My father knew him back from Spain when he was a young man. Later we asked him to write the "Concierto Andaluz"; a concert for 4 guitars that he wrote in 1967 and that we performed first in 1968. We also premiered the "Concierto Madriga"l, which he wrote for Presti and Lagoya (Ida Presti y Alexandre Lagoya). Due to the tragic death of Ira Presti the concert was not performed. When we finally performed it, Rodrigo was present at the premiere and stayed at my father’s house. We were able to establish a friendship that continued up to his death. The last concert Rodrigo wrote was the "Concierto para una Fiesta" dedicated to me. Many of his works were revised and fingered by me, as the "Concierto de la Giralda", which was originally written for harp and Rodrigo asked me to transcribe it for guitar. In “Invocación y Danza” we tried to write a version that was playable, but close to the original version. It was a very affectionate friendship that was beyond a professional relationship. He was like a family-member.
Rodrigo was always very interested in the works of other composers. I remember, when I gave the first performance of the "Concierto para una Fiesta" he could not be present. Two weeks later I travelled to Madrid to give a concert and I visited him at the hospital. After a while I said to him that I would have leave because I had to prepare for a concert that was transmitted in the Spanish radio and television, and he said to me: - Pepin, switch the television on so I can watch and listen to it. I responded: - but Maestro, it is a concert by Torroba, the Dialogues. And he answered: - and do you believe that I am only interested in my works?
He enjoyed very much smoking Cuban cigars. Many times we were smoking cigars together. I remember when they first performed one of the operas of one of his colleagues in Madrid, Rodrigo was anxious to listen to it. And he invited me to listen to it with him. I arrived early. He was very excited and asking every moment for the time. At the beginning of the concert we were already smoking our Havana cigars. Rodrigo’s wife did not like the work at all, but Rodrigo was calm, smoking his cigar. Two hours had passed already and the cigars were finished. Suddenly he asks me: -Pepín: what time is it? I answered: - Maestro, it is 12 o'clock -. And then he said referring to the work: - he should have had a good idea by now. He was a man of an enormous sense of humour.
He was also very humble. One day I told him that he was a genius, and he answered: - not Pepín, Beethoven was a genius, I am nobody.
Also, he was a great friend and admirer of Ponce. They studied together and he was always speaking very good of his music.
Guitarrisimo: As you told me before there is a story behind the "Concierto para una Fiesta".
Pepe Romero: When Rodrigo received the honorary doctor of the University of South California I was honoured to do the speech at the ceremony. At the dinner celebrated in Rodrigo’s honour he played some fragments of the "Concierto para una Fiesta". And he told me that he would be writing a very easy concert for me, so I would not have to study too much. Almost a year later I received the scores. As I started reading I noticed that he had played only some fragments but now he had adorned it fully. When I looked at the indications of the metronome I was chocked and said to my wife that Rodrigo made a mistake. I even considered that his metronome was broken. So I called him the next day: - Maestro, you have made a mistake. The speed of the metronome is wrong. This cannot be -. And he answers: -No Pepin, it is written for you-. Later I met him in Belgium to revise the work. As we went out for a walk he said to me: - when you and I will be dead, we are going to have a lot of fun smoking our Havana cigars and watching the guitarists suffering to study this work-.
The Concierto para una Fiesta was premiered on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the "Concert of Aranjuez" in the Palace of Aranjuez. I played the two concerts that night. When I finished the audience was very euphoric. I went down to help Rodrigo on the stage to receive the applause. The ovations didn’t stop. So I ask the maestro: -Would you like that I repeat the second movement?- He answers - no, you have played it fabulous. Now, you might make mistakes.
Guitarrisimo: We are here in Paracho, the world’s capital of guitar. What do you think of the work done here at the CIDEG (Centre of Investigation and Education for Guitar)?
Pepe Romero: Paracho is an example for the entire world. We have often used the word magic to describe what is going on here. It is really inspiring. It is one of the most beautiful things that I have seen in my life. The guitars build here in Paracho are on the highest level. And I hope that this magic never stops. I enjoyed listening and watching the young people playing together and helping each other. It reminded me of the relation I had with my brothers. There is no envy and it is an example of what can be done.
Guitarrisimo: Favourite Works...
Pepe Romero: I am a person who lives in the moment. I try to get the maximum out of a piece. When I play a piece, no other one exists. At that moment it is my favourite. I like all music. There are many works that fill my soul. I am a great admirer of Bach. But for my roots and for my tradition it is the Spanish music that I play most. I believe that I am on a mission to spread the Spanish music around the world.
Guitarrisimo: Thank you very much.
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