one guitar is now available on Bandcamp in all file formats up to 24/96kHz.
From the March 2007 issue of Guitar World/Guitar One magazine:
…he’s taken his flamenco/world-music hybrid to a new, more introspective level here, with beautifully haunting six-string explorations that are, impressively, mostly improvised. And the Lieb doesn’t just show off his chops, which include walking intricate bass lines over tremolo picking, or ripping out blazing Spanish Phrygian scales. He’s got passion to go with the speed—and that’s what counts, dammit.
MOMENT OF TRUTH: “Night Traveling Raindrops: Nachtreisende Regentropfen” (1:30–2:52) Liebert’s phrasing gives space and evocativeness to the airy single-note melodies before he unleashes a cyclone of countermelodies and arpeggios.
From CultureCourt.com:
In his famous novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” the Colombian writer Gabriel Marquez has a scene where a Conquistador is recovered from the bed of a river, a husk within a heavy suit of armor. This piece of folk archaeology is part of the imagery that drives the story as a cultural echo. There are similar echoes in Ottmar Liebert’s new CD of solo acoustic guitar, that is, the ghosts of Spanish flamenco within the dreamscapes of the New World. One Guitar: 13 tracks of contemplation, meditation, exhalation, levitation… and exquisite solitude.
From Disc Reviews: December 2, 2006 : The Morning Call Online:
The individual tunes, all of which he composed, could be considered scrumptious tapas in an alternative cafe. But actually, they’re small prayer rugs — brilliant-hued weavings of pensiveness and feeling.
And this quote from Ken Wilber:
Music that is haunting in its beauty and depth. Highly recommended!
Here is what I wrote in March of 2006, when one guitar had the working title Tears in the Rain.
I added a few more pieces to the Tears in the Rain album-in-progress in the ListeningLounge and there are now 13 altogether. I honestly cannot tell you whether the music is good or not, whether the guitar playing is excellent or lousy, whether the pieces are altogether sublime or silly, gold or crap.
These pieces are too close to me (still) and I can’t see them, can’t judge them, nor do I want to. All I can tell you is that I enjoyed playing them, discovering them, and I very much enjoy listening to them. They tell me something. They take me places. Eventually I will title the new batch. Eventually there should be a CD.
The album was released a few months later and was nominated for a 2006 Grammy.
More reading about the project here, here, here, here, and here.
Hey, I like the Lieb showing off his chops! And Nachtreisende Regentropfen – I keep saying this wonderful phrase again and again.
What a knowledgeable writer. I have more to read here.