The guitar world is experiencing a growth in the amount of talented young players. Paul Moeller's concert on February 20, 1999 showed that the future for this artist as well as the classical guitar is a bright and optimistic one.

      Mr. Moeller is currently pursuing the Artist Diploma under Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. His program was a very demanding combination of the 4th Lute Suite by J.S. Bach, the Concierto de Aranjuez and 3 Villa-Lobos studies. Needless to say, this program required a lot of endurance and concentration. Mr. Moeller was more than up to the task.

      The 4th Lute Suite is a challenging piece for a number of reasons. It requires virtuoso technical proficiency and an understanding of the Baroque repertoire. Secondly, the piece was originally written for the violin. This adds an extra challenge in the fact that violinists have been perfecting this piece for centuries. It is a well know piece to all classical music lovers and the guitarist must be able to achieve that superior level of performance that has come to be expected on the violin. Mr. Moeller gave a wonderful performance of this demanding suite. The prelude was at a nice controlled tempo. He was able to bring out the important contrapuntal lines that make this piece one of the gems of the repertoire. The Loure was delicate yet expressive. In this movement, there was a definite Barrueco influence in his choice of ornamentation. Mr. Moeller made nice use of ornamentation throughout the entire suite. It was not too obtrusive and his placement was nicely done. This shows the possession of a strong interpretive mind, which complements his strong technical proficiency.The Concierto de Aranjuez is seen by many as the pinnacle of the classical guitar repertoire. Mr. Moeller gave an excellent performance of this piece. The Adagio was especially nice. His use of tone colors allowed him to express the romantic nature of this movement to its fullest. It was a very mature performance.

      To end his program Mr. Moeller chose 4 Villa-Lobos studies, Etude #8, Etude #2, Etude #7 and Etude #12 as an encore. His interpretation of Etude #8 was a good illustration of melodic control. His performances of Etude #2, #7, and #12 were both fluid and virtuosic. His tempo for Etude #2 was one that would not be attempted by many guitarists. This was impressive display of technique.

      One of the missions of The Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society is to promote young concert artists at the start if their careers. This concert was a nice example of the type of synergy that can be created by such an event. Paul Moeller is on his way to becoming one of the new voices in the classical guitar world. We hope to see him again in the future.

---- By Gene Stein