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Top classical guitarist makes a graceful return

By Cole Cheney

Classical guitarists are not high in demand. After he broke the classical scene in 1975 at the Geneva International Guitar Competition, however, David Leisner experienced the kind of widespread acclaim and success that few of his instrumentation enjoy.

Less than a decade into his career, a crippling neurological disease called focal dystonia set in.

"Without responsive hands, I lost the ability to do what I love," Leisner says. "It was the most devastating period of my life."

Focal dystonia causes the victim's hand muscles to either curl inward or extend outward beyond their control. It generally affects surgeons, writers and other professions that require minute and repetitive hand motions.

Unwilling to forgo his musical gift, this twist of fate was not the end of Leisner's career but the beginning of a 12 year rehabilitation.

"In 1996, I began rehabilitating myself. Many people that get the disease give up their precision jobs," Leisner says. "After the hardest work of my life, I actually play better and stronger than I did before focal dystonia.”

Leisner will play his guitar alongside the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. Saturday in Coe College's Sinclair Auditorium, 1220 First Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids. Leisner will also join the group when it performs the same concert as Orchestra Iowa at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City.

“Masterworks III: Music Al Fresco” will feature Joaquín Rodrigo's “Concierto de Aranjuez,” Ottorino Respighi's “Trittico Botticelliano,” Joseph Haydn's Symphony N. 104 in D major and Sergei Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, Op. 25.

"In my opinion, the Rodrigo piece is the most important classical guitar song of the 20th century," Leisner says. "The middle movement is particularly heartfelt and melodic and audiences usually recognize this immediately."

While the piece is widely known, Leisner has historically focused on works that reside beneath mainstream popularity.

"I champion under-recognized composers. I love promoting musicians who are undeservedly neglected," Leisner says. "Johann Mertz and Thomas Matiegka are two excellent, yet unknown, 19th century composers that I especially enjoy performing."

Leisner says his return to music from rehabilitation not only helped him reclaim his abilities but strengthened them.

"Through a lot of self-experimentation and physical practice, I've developed a playing style that focuses on ease," Lesiner says. "Good posture is not common among classical guitarists, but it is essential to my playing."

Best described as confidently self-aware, Leisner sits perfectly erect during his playing — not in an awkward strain but a casual formalness. His expert playing can be seen in the simplicity of his fret hand, which forms an array of chords and pitches with little drama or seeming effort. This lack of action is compensated for by his picking hand, which slaps, waves and circles the cavity of the guitar.

Musically, his guitar sounds as if two instruments were played simultaneously. A bass line marches through his pieces while the higher notes chromatically ascend and descend in chimes. Classical guitar playing, which is nearly always finger-picked on a wide-necked guitar, is "one of the hardest instruments to play," says Leisner.

Leisner is not only a noted accomplished performer, but a composer as well. Solo guitar, chamber arrangements, piano/vocal duets and orchestral arrangements are among the more than 100 pieces penned by Leisner. Fanfares, jazz numbers and suites are among the classical guitarist's extensive repertoire.

"In every song that I perform, my goal is to make it mine," Lesiner says. "When these pieces actually are mine, it gets a lot easier."

Leisner will be conductor Tim Hankewich's guest for the "Insight" discussion an hour before each concert is scheduled to begin (7 p.m. Saturday at Sinclair Auditorium and 1 p.m. Sunday at the Englert.)

Tickets for each performance, ranging from $21 to $54, are available online, by calling (319) 366-8203 or (800) 369-TUNE (8863), or by visiting the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra ticket office at the Grant Wood House, 800 Second Ave. SE, from 9 to 5 Monday through Friday.