Jenny Svenberg Bunnel artist
Nils Klöfver alto guitar
Martina Domonkos Klemmer curator
Juacho Martínez Segura video production
Matthew Dilley sound production
Danelia Goyes Tellez photography
ALTGITARR
Vinyl LP album (with digital download)
Music for alto guitar recorded by Nils Klöfver
3 independent cover drawings by Jenny Svenberg Bunnel
Giclée printed on Goya paper (Tumba Bruk ,1970)
Hand mounted on LP sleeve
Individually numbered and signed by the artist
Edition: 78 / 80 / 82
Price : £300
“I like the idea of marrying two existing audiences and create a new, fresh and hopefully curious one. Music and Art have always been great friends. It’s magic when the Eye and the Ear meet in the mind.”
Martina Domonkos Klemmer
“Celebrating the alto guitar on its 50th anniversary with this album, sprung from collaboration much like the instrument itself, makes me very proud.”
Nils Klöfver
“Presence and concentration are two equally important as vulnerable threads on which we progress in this balancing act approaching our terminus – or maybe only a temporary halt on a longer journey.”
Jenny Svenberg Bunnel
The driving force behind this project is the fascinating idea of combining different genres and discovering what happens in the very moment they meet. Both art forms are inspired and nurtured by each other in a beneficial synergy where the result is far greater than the sum of its parts.
Beginning with filming a music video where Jenny was life drawing as Nils was performing, they both realised how they were feeding off each other’s artistic expression. Jenny was touched by the beauty of Bach’s counterpoint, and as her drawings evolved, as did Nils’ interpretation of the piece. The final outcome ended up being so much more than what they initially set out to do: three sublime drawings capturing three moments of instrument and musician alongside an inspired rendition of the prelude of Bach’s lute suite in E major.
We were overwhelmed to have found a batch of paper left behind by late Swedish artist Sven Bunnel. The legendary Swedish paper mill Tumba Bruk produced this Goya paper in the 1970s, and being able to use this meant we were able to make fully inimitable prints of the three finished drawings. We only found a small number of sheets and as the production of these papers ceased long ago, the edition becomes naturally limited and future reprints an impossibility. After being printed using the fine art giclée method each sheet was mounted seamlessly and by hand onto the LP sleeve. Jenny then added the title, her signature and the numbering in her own hand to each impression creating 240 truly unique pieces of art.
Altgitarr is the Swedish word for alto guitar, an addition to the guitar family that was developed in Sweden by luthier Georg Bolin and guitarist Per-Olof Johnson. This album with the same name commemorates the 50th anniversary of this very instrument, combining music of the Baroque with arrangements of traditional and popular songs.
Side A is dedicated to Bach’s first suite for solo cello. This much-loved work has lately been scrutinised and it has been suggested that it was in fact not written by Johann Sebastian Bach, but rather by his second wife, Anna Magdalena, a fine musician and copyist in her own right. There is evidence speaking for both beliefs, and we might never know for sure, but it surely adds to the mystery of this great composition. The B side features a passacaglia by S.L. Weiss, Nils’ arrangement of the traditional folksong Greensleeves and a solo guitar version of Fool on the Hill by the Beatles. Here we also find the prelude from J.S. Bach’s lute suite in E major, the piece appearing in the music video recording that initiated the whole project.
SIDE A
Anna Magdalena Bach
Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 (BWV1007)
(arrangement: Göran Söllscher/Nils Klöfver)
Buy Altgitarr on iTunes:
SIDE B
Johann Sebastian Bach
Suite for lute in E major (BWV1006a)
Prelude
Silvius Leopold Weiss
Pasacaglia
trad. (arrangement: Nils Klöfver)
Greensleeves
John Lennon / Paul McCartney
(arrangement: Göran Söllscher)
Fool on the Hill
Altgitarr is available as numbered collectors vinyl disc and for digital download. Sign up to the newsletter to join us on our journey.
Swedish classical guitarist Nils Klöfver arrived in Bogotá this month to promote his newest album, Altgitarr, which goes from Bach to The Beatles. Over a few café con leches, he discussed the making of the album with Marian Romero
www.thebogotapost.com/2016/01/12/fusing-music-and-art/
Conversamos en Amantes del Círculo Polar con este músico independiente, que luego de su presentación en el Auditorio Aurelio Arturo de la Biblioteca Nacional les enseño a nuestros oyentes su fusión de arte y música.
Until I received an email from Swedish guitarist Nils Klöfver, I had never heard of an alto guitar. The instrument was developed 50 years ago in Sweden by luthier Georg Bolin and guitarist Per-Olof Johnson.
www.planethugill.com/2015/11/art-meets-music-in-limited-edition.html
Altgitarr is an album where music for alto guitar recorded by Nils Klöfver merges with the drawings of Jenny Svenberg Bunnel
Download the Swedish Press Release