Pulling strings to get places

By WILLIAM DART

Peter McAven is a man of many stories. The Auckland-born guitarist has been based in Germany since the 1970s, but he's back visiting us, as part of a nationwide concert tour.

It wasn't always a guitar with McAven. Back in the 1950s, on the North Shore, young Peter's first musical experience was "strumming away on a ukulele, going from house to house in Takapuna and playing songs I'd learned from one of those teach-yourself tutors".

The first instrument he took up seriously was the violin. "I loved the wood of the instrument, the look of the instrument, but a friend of mine had a guitar. He could strum chords and I thought I'd like that."

Alas, he was not fated to be the Kiwi George Harrison. "I was given a guitar and sent to Daphne Dobson, a very vivacious person and a wonderful teacher. She planted me on the seat in a classical fashion and I knew from that moment on there would be no pop, no blues and no strumming."

In 1972, inspired by the visiting guitarist Siegfried Behrend, McAven followed the German back to Europe, hooked on the new and radical sounds in which Behrend specialised. Thirty years later, McAven has renounced this music as "going through new doors, discovering new rooms, but rooms which didn't have enough windows to look out of".

Nevertheless, memories include meeting the Hungarian composer Ligeti, who was "so shocked when Boulez had to rewrite an unplayable guitar part in his Marteau sans Maitre that Ligeti himself was unwilling to risk writing any guitar music".

"It's a difficult instrument for a composer to come to terms with. You can't just write anything and there are only a few like Hans Werner Henze who have sussed out how to do it."

McAven is more than happy to talk instruments. A few years ago, it was a Ramirez guitar, bought in the Madrid airport where a visa-less McAven was stranded in the departure lounge. Two guitars were brought along to the airport by the obliging Ramirez agent, and the other instrument was purchased by "a flashy guy in a Hawaiian shirt who whistled all the time and later turned out to be none other than Mr Asia [Marty Johnstone]".

His current companion is a more subtle Daniel Friedrich guitar with "exquisitely warm sounds. Just touch the strings and beauty starts pouring out".

Aucklanders have three chances to hear these sounds. This Friday, in Belmont's Rose Centre, he joins up with violinist Miranda Adams in a Summer Magic Concert that includes Paganini's exhilarating Sonata Concerto in A, "the only piece written for this combination in which Paganini lets the instruments play an equal role". Expect magic ... and fireworks.

The following weekend, McAven will be giving two concerts with flutist Martin Feinstein under the moniker of Pan Duo. Friday's Romantica concert is Valentine's Day fare, very much "sit back and enjoy stuff", admits McAven, with a platter of South American evergreens including The Girl from Ipanema and Tico Tico.

On Saturday, the pair cross over the Harbour Bridge to St-Matthew-in-the-City for a more substantial programme including Piazzolla's Histoire du Tango, a portrait of the dance's journey of gentrification from brothel to concert hall, via the cafe and the nightclub.

Finally, McAven seems eager to offer some advice for would-be Segovias, who might, goodness knows, have only just graduated from ukulele to guitar themselves. "Find a good teacher, listen to a lot of music and get yourself the right instrument - not too big a one. Don't make your music an isolated thing, be an accompanist. Get out there and make contact with other musicians. That, in the final count, is what it's all about."

* Peter McAven with Miranda Adams, the Rose Centre, School Rd, Belmont, Friday, 8pm.