The great Masters of Resonance
2025.01.29.Sandor Szabo/ Kevin Kastning: Resonance
Sandor Szabo is a determining figure of the Hungarian acoutic guitar life since decades. In 1986 their first record had been released ( Ritual Of A Spiritual Communion) together with Balazs Major percussionist. With this album he entered the international scene of the acoustic guitar.
In the last decades Sandor played and collaborated together with countless musicians. A few weeks ago he played a tour with Dominic Miller ( the guitar player of the Sting Band) and Kevin Kastning composer/guitar player from the States. Sandor and Kevin played some duo pieces from their first album called Resonance I am reviewing now.
I think they could not have found better title of such an album as Resonance. Most of the people has attraction to any kind of resonances because they instinctly know that the resonance of the music is an elementary fenomenal of the universe. They noticed that certain kind and quality of resonances can change their mental as well as the spiritual state.
When we start to listen Sandor Szabo/Kevin Kastning: Resonance album we enter the world of resonances where the sounds can almost be touched, where the resonances simultaneously contact our physical and mental entity but which is even more important they contact the deepest layer of our soul in a timeless dimension.
That is why the Resonance can be classified as multi-layer album. There is a surface layer which for certain listeners can be entertaining but never in a popular way, and a much deeper and stronger spiritual layer. Due to this latter the music unawares burgle to our consciousness like the smell of our favourite drink or meal. But while the smell is physical the music creates a spiritual thirstyness in the perception.
There are 13 pieces on the album, each of them are common compositions. It is enough to have a look at the titles of the pieces ( for example Another Face of the Beauty, the Long Tale of the Ocean, the Two Pilgrims; One Path, etc.) our spiritual fantasy starts immediately. The musicians thought it is worth to walk around some themes more times, so The Totem has two, the Tanz Grotesque has three versions.
This album offers something very special not only musically but also in sound quality which is far beyond and above the commerse so it is worth to listen it carefully several times.
Sandor Szabo/Kevin Kastning: Resonance
-After listening repeatedly to “Resonance” I can hardly wait to hear the second Szabor/Kastning effort, especially since, amazingly enough, it is already “in the can” so to speak. The first thing coming to my mind is how the two players hit it off, Kevin’s understated and sober playing blends wonderfully with Sandor’s more flamboyant and virtuosistic style, although sometimes it is difficult to know who plays what when the music becomes more sparse. The guitar tones are gorgeous, although in baritone-land, the sound is never muddy nor lacks definition. And definition and purity is all about how this CD has been recorded, I was always impressed by the tone of Kevin’s recordings, it is rare to hear such unadulterated, rich and pure guitar sounds. The music spans a diverse range of influences, much more than what I’m accustomed to hear with the Kastning/ Siegfried duet, becoming sometimes a tad jazzy, poppy (as in
“accessible melody”), but always rich in polytonality, coherent in style and I want to stress, easy to listen to. No need to hold a PhD. in musicology to enjoy Resonance I am not sure how much is improvised vs. written music for each track, but it all sounds as if it’s coming from the same well, another testament to the musical brotherhood quickly forged between the two players.
/Laurent Brondel, producer/
Reviews and Quotes for Resonance
“Having been an avid listener of Kevin’s work for many years, I was just stunned at the huge leap his music has taken with this collaboration with Sandor Szabo. I was honored with the privilege of designing the graphics for the album, and so I am quite close to it and possibly slightly biased, but still when I first heard the pieces here I was very excited at having my work associated with something so special.
Kevin’s abstract style combined with Sandor’s almost at times almost frantic one seems to have conjured something extraordinary, and altogether different for the both of them {although I have only heard one of Sandor’s albums}. Kevin’s extended baritone in particular, just resounds orchestrally, its deep tones complimented perfectly by Sandor’s higher-pitched baritone, especially in Intense Chemistry, which at times even gets a little funky. While the instruments themselves sound amazing, I believe it’s Kevin and Sandor’s combined styles of playing them, their beautiful improvised pieces that sound so pre composed, that give the guitars such a wonderful voice. The recorded sound quality is so crisp and clear that it seems like I have these two playing right here in my living room. The final track, Fantasy for door harp, is a delightful little sign-off to the album.
It is also quite exciting that this is the first ever recording of 12-string baritone duets, hardly surprising as Kevin invented this “piano like” instrument. With the subsequent invention of the extended baritone, and a new guitar design underway, I think we can expect more interesting and wonderful sounds from this duo in the future.
I truly love this album and enjoy it more each time I play it, each time hearing some new little nuance I had missed previously. I am indeed very proud to be a part of it.”
Sandor Szabo & Kevin Kastning – Resonance (2007)
Kevin Kastning & Sándor Szabó are both acoustic guitar players who excel in creating experimental guitar music, which consists of musical sound escapades with deep layers. Both Kevin Kastning and Sándor Szabó have received critical acclaim from the press and audiences for their previously released CDs.
The compositions on Resonance consist of duets for 12-string extended baritone guitars. Both players interact extremely well on all the mostly improvised pieces. There is a constant flow of emotions from the unconscious mind, painted in a creative and experimental setup.
The opening track of Resonance, Another Face of the Beauty, excels in great dynamics, and at times, it has the feeling of a classical and intricately composed piece of art. On Songs of The Wind, deep basses and high tones weave together in a universal feeling. Intense Chemistry has a strong structure and an evocative setup, with intense chemistry between the two guitarists.
Long Tale of the Ocean is a continuous communication between the soul and the ocean, merging both together. On A Solitary Cypress, there is a process of opposing directions. First Confluence is a sound sculpture of the progression of two souls connecting.
The music of Sándor Szabó & Kevin Kastning is very demanding for the listener. One has to be open to new experiences, to processes occurring within the human soul and the natural elements of Mother Nature, which attempt to connect with each other.
Enjoy the journey!
/Henk te Veldhuis, Bridge Guitar Reviews (2007)/
Sándor Szabó / Kevin Kastning – Resonance (Greydisc Records)
This disc will most definitely not be for everyone, but those for whom it has been specifically crafted will be delighted—a set of spacious, abstract, and airy pensées on the intelligently pastelline—albeit darkly hued—virtues of two acoustic guitars joined in structured improvisation, dependent only upon the moody cast of the entire selection’s grey, shadowy flavors.
Many years ago, two giants, John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner, came together to create ECM’s killer Sargasso Sea, setting the standard—a high-water mark rarely attempted, let alone pulled off. Five years later, they issued the return meeting, Five Years Later, to general ecstasy. Resonance feels like the third meeting, this time with Towner and Abercrombie being joined by Bill Connors in his ECM heyday. That is to say: Szabó and Kastning are a good deal darker than Ralph and John had been, following Connors’ Mist and Melting peregrinations.
Now, it should be known that Abercrombie & Towner cannot be surpassed—that’s just the set rule—but this duo has made the finest task of it to date. Many had hoped Larry Coryell might have braved the venture in his many collaborations with Steve Khan, Philip Catherine, and others—somewhat as he had in earlier ensemble releases The Restful Mind and Spaces, almost capturing the quintessence but not quite—but as thrilling as those LPs were, they weren’t on the order of Sargasso Sea.
Resonance, however, comes damnably, impressively close. Very satisfying, it persistently etches itself in mercurialities, evanescence, and threnody, boasting an exclusive use of baritone guitars—handcrafted instruments yielding rich tones and meaningful shades.
It’s ironic that one of the players shares a surname with a revered elder now passed on, Gábor Szabó, because the thoughtfulness and choices demonstrated by Sándor are akin to Gábor’s consummate playmanship. I was fortunate to catch Gábor at Redondo Beach’s long-famed Lighthouse not long before he died, apparently of complications arising from heroin addiction. Even in the throes of his struggle with the drug, he could peel off some of the most fascinating lines amidst what had then become a descending lite jazz denouement in his career.
Fortunately for guitar romantics, Sándor possesses none of these problems and embraces what Gábor had displayed in such classics as Mizrab while pushing well beyond. This CD is an hour-long spree of slowly shifting Dantean environments and atonal wanderings in fields close by yet far from the safe pastures of urbanity. Wild is the heather here, foggy the banks, and mysteriously does the day pass in reveries and echoing tastes.
Like many such releases, it works beautifully as background chiaroscuro or as closely followed fare. Either mode repays the attentions given, but it is not—and I can’t stress this firmly enough—of an ilk with the New Age duets the disc might initially be mistaken for (the cover is a very pleasant two-toned abstract canvas). Such things are 99% milk-blooded tomfoolery, while Resonance breathes, whispers, cajoles, sulks, and hypnotizes in an extremely literate fashion.
Therefore, do not send to know for whom the muttering minor chords ring—they beckon thee.
/Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by Mark S. Tucker/
Sándor Szabó / Kevin Kastning: Resonance (Greydisc Records)
The abstact expressionist painting on the cover of “Resonance” is fitting. This collection of haunting baritone guitar duets is a thrilling reminder that music is art as well as entertainment. Kastning, a Massachusetts native, is a pioneer in modern acoustic guitar composition, a world seldom visited by mainstream listeners.
In his latest offering Kastning teams up with Hungarian virtuoso Sándor Szabó to produce thirteen puzzling pieces that may be best described as acoustic soundscapes. The album is unmelodic and occasionally atonal (there isn’t a single track you can hum), so you won’t want it for your daily commute. But the staccato back-and-forth of “Resonance” can be disturbingly peaceful and inspiring for those with enough time to develop an intimate relationship with it. Listen to this disc alone while you’re writing, painting, cooking, or whatever it is you consider your art, and see where it takes you.
/New England Music Reviews/
Sándor Szabó & Kevin Kastning: “Resonance,” 2007
Sándor Szabó’s and Kevin Kastning’s first collaboration, Resonance, is a remarkably accessible collection of modern experimental guitar duets. The release is also the first-ever recording featuring the extended 12-string baritone guitar in a duet setting. Kastning has recently released several critically acclaimed albums for Greydisc, while Szabó is a Hungarian virtuoso with over twenty solo albums to his credit on European labels.
On this recording, the two kindred spirits adventurously explore a variety of musical palettes, from chamber to symphonic and from modern to traditional folk. Together, they construct beautifully written and performed compositions that feature sensitive dialoguing and improvisation.
All of these sonic explorations are captured using 24-bit digital technology, resulting in a recording that is as rich and lush as the spacious musical sketches the musicians create. This album is highly recommended for all listeners wanting to hear music that challenges the boundaries of acoustic guitar in a provocative but thoroughly engaging manner.— James Scott, Minor 7th
/Gondola Magazine, Hungary/
The Great Masters of Resonance
Sándor Szabó / Kevin Kastning: Resonance
“Sandor Szabo is a determining figure of the Hungarian acoustic guitar life since decades. In 1986 their first record had been released (Ritual Of A Spiritual Communion) together with Balazs Major percussionist. With this album he entered the international scene of the acoustic guitar.
In the last decades Sandor played and collaborated together with countless musicians. A few weeks ago he played a tour with Dominic Miller ( the guitar player of the Sting Band) and Kevin Kastning composer/guitar player from the States. Sandor and Kevin played some duo pieces from their first album called Resonance I am reviewing now.
I think they could not have found better title of such an album as Resonance. Most of the people has attraction to any kind of resonances because they instinctively know that the resonance of the music is an elementary phenomenal of the universe. They noticed that certain kind and quality of resonances can change their mental as well as the spiritual state.
When we start to listen Sandor Szabo/Kevin Kastning: Resonance album we enter the world of resonances where the sounds can almost be touched, where the resonances simultaneously contact our physical and mental entity but which is even more important they contact the deepest layer of our soul in a timeless dimension.
That is why the Resonance can be classified as multi-layer album. There is a surface layer which for certain listeners can be entertaining but never in a popular way, and a much deeper and stronger spiritual layer. Due to this latter the music unawares burgle to our consciousness like the smell of our favorite drink or meal. But while the smell is physical the music creates a spiritual thirstiness in the perception.
There are 13 pieces on the album, each of them are common compositions. It is enough to have a look at the titles of the pieces ( for example Another Face of the Beauty, The Long Tale of the Ocean, the Two Pilgrims; One Path, etc.) our spiritual fantasy starts immediately. The musicians thought it is worth to walk around some themes more times, so The Totem has two, the Tanz Grotesque has three versions.
This album offers something very special; not only musically but also in sound quality which is far beyond and above the commerce so it is worth to listen it carefully several times.”
Features: Szabó Sándor / 6 and 12 string baritone guitars, Kevin Kastning / 6 and 12 string extended baritone guitars
/Czékus Mihály/