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Ferenc Snétberger
acoustic guitar

Markus Stockhausen
trumpet, flugelhorn (on # 2-4)

Franz Liszt Chamber Orch.
(on # 5-7)

rec. May-September, 1999, Enja
1. Mazurka (3:51) / Landscapes (Compositions for Guitar and Trumpet): 2. Hajnal (6:56) 3. Gond Nélkül (3:39) 4. Alkony (9:05) / In Memory Of My People (Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra): 5. Hallgató (8:09) 6. Emlékek (8:06) 7. Tßnc (3:38) / 8. Fantßzia (5:06) 9. Vals Criollo / Vals Gitano (1:52)
 
Few people have as much right to claim they are world musicians as Ferenc Snétberger has. Hailing from a Sinti/Roma family in Hungary, Snétberger played Gypsy guitar at an early age, learned classical guitar as a teenager, studied jazz guitar later at the Ferenc Liszt Academy, Budapest and adapted Brazilian and Spanish techniques to his playing. Carrying in his bag the passion of tango, Indian music and the admiration for Egberto Gismonti, Jim Hall and Johann Sebastian Bach, Snétberger knew from the start that he would never want to play without improvising but keep his exquisite classical touch whatever he would do. "I am a jazz guitarist but also a classical guitarist", he says. "Folklore  that's my childhood and youth, my roots. The touch is more classical, the sound is jazz. I don't have a recipe for this mixture, I put it together unconsciously." Since living in Berlin, Snétberger has become one of the few truly distinctive voices on contemporary guitar, a border-crossing virtuoso of a rare kind. An obvious choice to step in for the late Charlie Byrd in the 'Great Guitars' band and a welcome celebrity at the Budapest Music Academy, he also frequently appears in ethnic-oriented musical contexts.