Plushmusic’s Cologne Festival: looking back

We’ve just had a quick straw-poll in the recording booth – and without question, the highlight of the festival (so far) has been Goran Krivokapic’s extraordinary guitar recital, which spanned virtually the entire history of the instrument and refreshed some remarkable nineteenth-century virtuoso pieces.

Another highlight was the food! (Incredibly, Plushmusic founder Adrian Brendel did leave us some…) The dinners, and the building, and everything in it – from the light switches to the magnificent Steinway – is the work of Hans-Martin Müller, a flautist with the WDR Symphony, formerly instructor at the Cologne conservatory, and for 20 years the proprietor, director and prime mobile of the Loft in Cologne. A man, moreover, who never stops moving, as this wholly inadequate shot of him demonstrates…

Another elusive figure has been our producer Matt – usually because he is hunting for that one elusive tape…

There is, alas, only one more set to go – not counting any late-night surprises. Lula Pena is having to put up with my frantic typing as she prepares to sing her exceptional and idiosyncratic brand of fado with the ever-cool (actually, after his recent set, rather hot and bothered!) Hayden Chisholm.