Guitarist Milos Karadaglic finds 'Baroque' sound on his new album

Miloš – Baroque (Sony Classical)

“In the beginning, I thought, in order to do this right, I need to change something. Maybe there's something in my sound or in my technique that I have to adjust to be more bright or sparkly,” guitarist Miloš Karadaglić says. “And at the end of that process, of months of search where you are searching for your own baroque voice, I realized that I'm only going to ever find my own Baroque voice if I stick to my voice and if I stick to who I am. Because without that, it wouldn't be true.”

Karadaglić talks about how he’s found his place in the world of Baroque music with the help of conductor Jonathan Cohen and the ensemble Arcangelo.   

You recently turned 40. You're working with new people on a new label and you just released your first Baroque recording. How does it feel to begin this new chapter?

“Right now, things really do feel like they are happening for a reason. This music has definitely allowed me to discover new things and to be open and vulnerable at the same time. It's been a process that has given me new oxygen artistically.”

Who are the Baroque artists who have inspired you? You've mentioned Cecilia Bartolli and her technique, her bravura. How has she inspired you?

“Very much so because I am obsessed with human voice. That's the idea of the instrument. And if you have someone like Cecilia Bartolli or Philippe Jaroussky or Francois Giulio, you go into this world that is just intoxicating.

“It's not all about the bravura. It's about the contrasts, the ups and downs, the shades, the darkness, the light, the legato line. These things speak the language of your soul in that moment. It's that feeling of music breaking you in magical way into a million pieces. And I wanted to see if I could bring that to what I was doing.”

The heart of this recording is a piece that you've had under your fingers for many years. It’s the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2, which you’ve referred to as the “sun,” the center of this recording. How did it end up as the “sun”?

“I found the ‘planets’ before I found the ‘sun.’ I thought Bach would sit on its own in a different project, a different album. I was more excited about finding out things I didn't know, only to realize that it only makes sense, because Bach is the beginning and the end.

“The Chaconne is so iconic because on the conscious and subconscious level it tells a story of a human life. There is no way you are not going to feel that in one way or the other as a listener or as a performer.

“Bach wrote this piece after the passing of his first wife with this idea that it encompasses a whole journey, one person's life journey. And, yes, all our journeys are different. We are all on this Earth with a different journey. But the underlying purpose of that journey is the same; it's a journey of discovery, and this piece is always a journey of discovery. It follows you through your whole life. You'll never learn it, you'll never stop with it and you evolve with it in the same way you evolve through your life.”

Is there any behind-the-scenes story that you can share about the whole process?

“There was this one moment in the in the studio where everyone was there, the ensemble was there, and we were doing Vivaldi’s L’Estro Armonico. We started playing, and suddenly their tempo was so much faster. And I have to pluck every note. And I just remember thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I'm never going to be able to do this.’ So I just left and practiced like a maniac, and in the end it worked!”

Resources

Miloš – Baroque (Amazon)

Miloš – Baroque (Sony Classical)

Miloš (official site)