Michael Nicolella’s Guitar Recital on Groupmuse

Groupmuse describes itself as “a worker- and musician-owned cooperative seeking to uplift artists and strengthen broader community bonds through live, intimate performances of historically-rooted music.” I first became aware of its presence through a local performer, whose performance then had to be cancelled due to COVID. However, this led to my getting word of other performances. Yesterday, I decided it was time to see just what sort of a service Groupmuse was.

Guitarist Michael Nicolella (screen shot from the video being discussed)

My first encounter involved a one-hour streamed recital by guitarist Michael Nicolella. Unfortunately, I confused CEST (Central European Standard Time) with Central Time in the United States. Fortunately, I discovered that, while I had missed the “live” performance, the video was still available for streaming. Apparently, the only advantage to a “live” connection is the ability to chat with other viewers during the performance. Since that strikes me as the ultimate distraction from attentive listening, I was just as glad to enjoy the experience in the absence of any connection to others!

The good news is that the video itself was as engaging as the performance of the music. Nicolella clearly worked with multiple cameras; and, as a rule, the camera angles were appropriate to allow for viewing different approaches that he took for performance. Not-so-good-news was that this was a “bare bones” video. The only texts were those identifying the venue and the works being played, meaning that no credit was given to the talent behind making the video. Furthermore, those identifications tended to be minimal. If a selection was a movement from a larger composition, there was no mention of what that composition was. At the very least, this may inhibit the engaged listener from seeking out other performances of any of the selections.

Similarly, there was no mention of arrangers of any music that was not originally composed for guitar. My guess is that Nicolella provided his own arrangements. Indeed, he may well be one of those guitarists skilled enough to read an “original” score and work out how to turn those marks on paper into a performance. The program also included three of Nicolella’s own compositions, which were engaging enough “in the moment” but left little that was memorable. He concluded with a Beatles arrangement which, to my delight, was not one of Toru Takemitsu’s transcriptions. (I have nothing against Takemitsu’s versions, but I was glad that Nicolella sought out an alternative.)

Taken as a whole, the listening experience was a satisfying one. The same can be said for the ways in which the camera work enhanced that listening experience. Still, I am more than a little old-fashioned in expecting program notes based on a solid foundation of accuracy and precision. I would rather be skimming those notes while listening, rather than worrying about having a chat connection!