Now, tonight is the highlight of this year's Guitar Festival. French guitarist Roland Dyens performed tonight. Now, for my review. If you haven't gone to his concert before, think of the best guitarist in your imagination, and I can only say that Roland Dyens is a much better guitarist than who you have in mind. I'm overly critical of performances most of the time, but the concert tonight has left me utterly speechless. Nothing I write would do justice to him.

Improvisation, musicality, technicalities, interpretation of guitar music at its peak. He didn't have a programme lined up, for he claimed that he wanted a spontaneaous concert suited for the atmosphere this night, with the element of surprise. I was skeptical about that at first, for how could some guitarist pick out random pieces that suit the atmosphere. I had actually shrugged it off as a promotional gimmick. But the concert tonight just made me feel so guilty of such thoughts I had. The music was totally spontaneous and natural, a quality lacking so badly in many professional concerts. Everything came out fresh and in the most special way...

The concert started off with a piece which he specially improvised for this concert in Singapore. It was totally magical, with its mystical and nostalgic mood, so often felt by one in a foreign land alone. Totally reflective of his mood I believe.

He just has this magical talent of producing the most beautiful musical effect out of the technical pieces which has practically no musical value in them at all. Somehow, from his concert, I have believed that no piece in this world is actually not musical at all... Oh well, guess that's something extreme I deduced from just one genius.

He's the first guitarist which will be listed under the section of virtuoso guitarists which I've actually met. He has managed to possess all of the diverse range of qualities used by the two schools of rational and intuitive performers . And yes, that pretty much makes him a prodigy. His music seems to be so well thought out and yet it still retains the natural, spontaneous quality to it.

Maybe all these may seem absurb to some. But I can only say that what I've written still doesn't do justice to his abilities... =)