My friend and artistic collaborator Charlie Rauh is the quintessential young artist. Born in the South of this great country, he found himself an outsider and was drawn to the avant-garde. He landed in NYC seven years ago seeking artistic gold. Charlie immediately immersed himself in New York’s music scene, which is how we met. We play improvised music together with Yonat Hafftka on Theremin. We call our band “Feeding Goats”. Our album Lights was released on the Composers Concordance/Naxos label, and two others, Blunt Trauma To The Head & Eye-Level With The Moon, on the Six Gallery Press label. Over the year I developed a deep appreciation for Charlie’s musical sense and abilities. Always nuanced and original, always reaching for the new to combine with the old, Charlie has a new solo album coming out. It was my pleasure to create the art for the cover.
Lullaby 2017 watercolor on paper 16”x12” by M. Hafftka
Viriditas, on Destiny Records September 8, CD Release Show on September 21, 9pm, at Rockwood Music Hall
From left: Charlie Rauh, Yonat Hafftka, Michael Hafftka
Viriditas, the debut album from NYC based composer/guitarist Charlie Rauh, takes its name from a word favored by the 12th century mystic Hildegard Von Bingen. Throughout Hildegard’s prolific writing and musical compositions, the term, which translates to greenness, is used to exemplify renewal and divine grace as evident in the world’s natural surroundings. The record illustrates a concise picture of precious minutia that sprawls Rauh’s life, paying tribute to people and places that continue to inspire a renewing sense of gratefulness.
The album, consisting of eight original solo guitar pieces, was recorded at Le Feuil, a farm in the south of France owned by fellow composer and collaborator Sasha Zamler-Carhat, in a single 45 minute session with renowned engineer Andrea Friggi. The goal was to simplify the approach to a solitary guitar being captured with immediacy, and vulnerability.
Rauh’s deep sense of connection to both Medieval and Appalachian music is apparent when you see him perform. Equipped with a travel ready electric guitar rig—he has been called “a modern troubadour” by Towards Electricty—he produces echoing, memorable vignettes. “I like the idea of making simple songs whose melodies could be played over and over and passed down through generations,” Rauh explains.
The guitarist found inspiration in the next generation with his tune “Augustine” after meeting his newborn nephew. The tune is an unadorned folk melody, presenting an instantly singable theme with slight variations as if responding to an infants ever-changing subtle expressions. The theme to “Arolen” can be traced to Rauh’s own childhood. Named for the street where he grew up in northern Alabama, the album closes with a rendition of the first melody he ever conceived. Dancing between the lifting melody and flourishes of improvisation, Rauh describes the recording as “me reflecting on my own life from then to now.”
Other location-centric songs on the album, such as the melancholic “Wind In The East” and “Lullaby For Djupavik” were inspired by his travels to Iceland. “I don’t have a history in Iceland, but when I’m there I feel a special connection with the people and places, and the intensity of the landscape inspires me,” Rauh confesses. He believes the “environmental influence grounds the music in reality,” and indeed, these short, through-composed pieces sound as though they were born with the landscape and have tangibly existed through time.
An avid improviser, Rauh included several extemporized pieces on the recording. Unlike other modern guitarists who employ ambient soundscapes or aggressive aural assaults, Rauh approaches improvisation with a purposeful mind, creating “spontaneous composition,” he says the freedom allows him, “the opportunity to play anything, but with the intention of creating something lasting.” The sparse, opening title track is a freely improvised meditation on the intent of the music to follow. A touching tribute to Rauh’s mentor and friend who passed away the day before the recording session, “Breathing Pleasure (For Connie Crothers)” begins its longing theme with immediacy, giving way to impassioned atonal bursts before settling to a recapitulated ending.
Viriditas is the follow up to Rauh’s first release from 2015, an Americana inflected chamber music EP titled Innocent Speller (Composers Concordance Records/Naxos), which was described as “contemplative” by Guitar Moderne and “introspective… spacious” by Gapplegate Guitar Blog. That recording set the stage for Rauh’s short, reflective compositional style, each piece sounding like it’s own music box. On the EP, he was joined by multi-instrumentalist Jake Thro and pedal steel player Robin Rauh, Charlie’s father and earliest musical influence. “More and more I hear my father’s playing in the guitarists I admire most,” he beams about ever-growing appreciation for dad.
Transitioning to a solo guitar recording was natural for Rauh, who typically performs as a solitary musician. And Rauh’s guitar tone is beautifully singular and shines on its own.
Viriditas bears the soul of an artist who treasures the details in life, but never lingers too long. The straightforwardness of Rauh’s expression is best understood in his own words: “My intention was to create really simple songs about extremely real things.”
Charlie Rauh
Guitarist Charlie Rauh has been awarded grants from such organizations as Meet The Composer, The Fractured Atlas Group, The Untitled Artists Group, The Herndon Arts Council, The Queens Arts Council, and The International Studios at Denkalschmeide Hofgen. Master improviser Connie Crothers noted Rauh as "a true musician with an originality that is deeply personal", while virtuoso composer/pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn describes his creative approach as "a rare combination of discipline, attention to detail, and impeccable taste." In collaboration with choreographer Megan Harrold he has served as composer in residence at The Klaustrid Foundation (Iceland), The Chen Dance Center (NYC), and Le Feuil (France).
Rauh has worked with such artists as David Rothenberg, Hank Roberts, Bernard Fowler, Michael Hafftka, Noël Akchoté, and Cornelius Eady - His compositions have been featured on NPR's Live in Studio C program and WUSB's Jazz On The Air program as well as in venues such as Merce Cunningham Studio, The Kitchen, Alice Tully Hall Lincoln Center, The Chocolate Factory, The Stone, The Rubin Art Museum, and Bohemian National Hall.