Mari Mantyla - Orfeo amoroso (2018) [Hi-Res]

The new decacorde model can be heard in three of the pieces can be heard on thei Alba release. Jukka Tiensuu wrote Kymmari especially for it, and the same to some extent applies to Pekka Jalkanen’s Nocturne for Insomnia and The Bog Gypsies. The four lowest strings have no frets in this ten-stringed guitar.The guitar was developed in partnership with guitar maker Kauko Liikanen in 2015. The absence of frets affords both the player and the composer some interesting potential. Glissandos are unhindered and soft, microintervals come naturally and the completely novel touch – the four lowest bass strings being pressed on the fingerboard direct – gives the colour scale of this big guitar instrument a delightful, pizzicato-like hue.

Mari Mantyla (ten-string guitar)