Timo Korhonen - a master of the classical guitar

Finnish guitarist Timo Korhonen is by no means an old man (b. 1964), but it would not be wrong to call him a "grand old man of classical guitarists". This is due to the fact that Korhonen started performing on high international level already as a teenager. He was only 17 when he became the youngest ever winner of the guitar category in the ARD competition in Munich. The win was the beginning of a great career, with concerts in over 30 countries and a many critically acclaimed recordings. He has premiered over 40 works, many of which have been especially written for him. Timo Korhonen has also been - and still is - a great teacher of young guitar players. His students have won more than 40 prizes in international competitions.

I met Timo for the first time in London in the 80´s when he was there to buy a new concert guitar. It was fascinating to hear him try out the new instrument. Later on there have fortunately been several other possibilities to hear him play.

If you like the sound of the classical guitar, I can honestly recommend Timo´s recordings to you. One of my own personal favourites is the beautiful "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" by FranciscoTarrega:

 On this page you will find a wider selection of recordings.

Timo Korhonen´s CDs  are available e.g. from Amazon.com

Here is one recent review of Timo´s new Bach CD:
Simon Thompson, MusicWeb International, September 2010

Finnish guitarist Timo Korhonen has already released his own arrangements of Bach’s solo violin sonatas. Now he turns his attention to the partitas and gives fascinating interpretations of these bottomless works. Any guitarist transcribing Bach has to contend with the spirit of Segovia but Korhonen manages convincingly to carve his own path in this music, even if he doesn’t quite shake off the shade of the Spanish master.
Naturally he exploits the full range of the guitar’s powers and so can do things that a violinist cannot, such as arpeggiating many of the broken chords, lending the music a very different feel: the opening Allemanda of the first partita sounds positively Spanish, for example...The extra harmonies lent by a guitar are exploited in the quicker elements and take us pretty far from the world of the unaccompanied violin. There is a lovely carefree element to the famous opening of the third partita, for example, the “held” notes spinning a lovely web around the music and creating an effect that is impossible with the violin. The same trick works beautifully in the Menuets. The great Chaconne from the second partita comes across very well, the interplay of the various lines being more easily delineated with the guitar; consequently the listener has a fuller sense of the astonishing counterpoint.
So this is certainly worth exploring if you’re willing to try the partitas on a guitar...