The surrounding space is very important for me when I seek inspiration and it is difficult to say if it is due to the light, acoustics or something else. Churches are often places that have a stimulating atmosphere and I found the inspiration I was looking for in the ruins of Tuhalaane church in Estonia. The place made me to listen to my inner self, to pay attention to the surroundings and I was ready to grasp the sounds. I did not want to forget those sounds that I caught from the silence and those that I played on the guitar so I recorded them as a video. I intentionally travelled to the ruins in the summer of 2015 to seek inspiration. At the same period, I first got to know the Prezioso String Quartet and the sound that emerges from the acoustic guitar and the quartet was exactly the direction in which I wanted to compose the collected fragments of inspiration. This is how the six sounds that I caught in the ruins became a 40-minute composition called Old Church for acoustic guitar and string quartet.

/Andre Maaker/