Sautscheck's FAQ > The Ultimate Explication

"....Giazotto—contrived by the author to seem to be by Albinoni—or perhaps to resemble the hackneyed and fascinating Adagio for Strings of Samuel Barber. Its compelling presence suggests one or the other, or perhaps still another composer of those obligatory works that get brought into play on ceremonial occasions of institutional mourning.
In accord with what happened with the celebrated piece of Giazotto, the clearly improbable provenance of which was deliberately hidden, we recall the original case of the north American composer of Ukrainian origin, Roman Turovsky-Savchuk. It is he who, in implicit disguise, is behind a long list of tombeaux written in baroque style with the highly baroque pseudonyms of an imaginary family of Bohemian lute players, the Sautscheks (Johann Geog, Johann Melchior, Johann Peter…) The works are disseminated on the internet, where they receive a passionate response for, among other things, their unquestionable musical quality. The body of work of this suggestive historical game includes a good number of pieces of fiction cleverly similar in their style. They are dedicated by the Sautscheks to deceased members of their own family,
to central European composers of the first rank (CPE Bach, JCF Bach, Locatelli, Tuma, Kraus, Wagenseil, Zelenka and—a nice touch — to Froberger) as well as to other relevant personalities of the cultured world of the eighteenth century (Goldoni, Lessing, Klopstock). But now Turovsky-Savchuk adds two more tombeaux, this time conceived for the viola da gamba and dedicated to Telemann and Forqueray. Let us finish by returning to all the strings.
To the cry of agony of the works of Penderecki, to the stream of tears of Barber, played on the baroque lute of Turovsky-Savchuk or, as well, on the arabic lute of Sánchez Verdú. They are equal if they are anything. They grasp at life as its sounds evaporate.
They grasp at the sound that dies, never to be reborn. One perceives the mythic lyre of Orpheus grieving for Euridice. And also the Seikilos epitaph, calling to Euterpe from the living world. But above all, one remembers the weeping strings of the guitar to which Lorca alludes, the tears which Estrella Morente evokes, wailing ceaselessly before the tomb of his artist father."
- Pablo de Pozo

Your music is kitsch garbage. I'm sorry, I just can't keep pretending to tolerate this postmodern nonsense.
You wouldn't have to send it out in spam messages if there were some actual substance to it.
I'm sorry I'm not sending you sugarcoated opinions that would be more tolerable to your juvenile compositional acumen. I have no part/any clue about your lute world drama. I'm a composer, not a role playing early music fetishist. Just stop sending me your music."

- George Katehis

"Je crois en Sautscheck comme les grecs anciens croyaient en leurs Dieux." - Gilbert Clauss

"Saucheck pieces are extremely effective..."

"I don't care when it was written, it is better than anything J.B.Hagen could ever produce!",

"Sono piuttosto belli i pezzi, e sono indistinguibili da quelli d'epoca il che non e' poco."

"Il tombeau di Müthel mi sembra decisamente uno dei tuoi meglio riusciti come equilibrio, idea
musicale e armonia."

"Cari amici appassionati di liuto e di musica in generale, vi consiglio fortemente questo CD molto particolare.Contiene composizioni originali di Roman Turovsky, un poliedrico artista newyorkese di origini ucraine. Turovsky richiama con eleganza atmosfere della tradizione musicale ucraina e le rielabora con un occhio alla pratica e allo stile del liuto barocco per cui questa musica è nata. Il mix è sicuramente molto originale e direi forse unico. La malinconia
della musica ucraina si adatta perfettamente al suono intimo e delicato del liuto. Sono composizioni molto intense emotivamente, perfettamente rese dall'interpretazione ispirata di Christopher Wilke, talvolta sommessa e meditativa talaltra accessa e passionale ma sempre misurata e ineccepibile."

El CD es “DE TEMPORUM FINE POSTLUDIA”. Una frase en latín que quiza se pueda traducir como “postuludio del final de las estaciones” o “postludio del final del tiempo”. Tiene música original de Roman Turovsky interpretada en laúd barroco por Christopher Wilke. Turovsky es un artista polifacético porque fundamentalmente se lo conoce como artista plástico. Pero también es bien conocido en el ámbito del laúd barroco. Nació en Ucrania y su familia se trasladó a Nueva York cuando Roman tenía 16 años. Mas tarde estudio laúd con Pat O’Brien. A comienzo de este siglo empezó a circular música como un gran descubrimiento musicológico de un compositor
olvidado del barroco, música de Johann Joachim Sautscheck. Como alguien que la ha tocado, puedo decir que muy bien escrita, muy idiomático y linda música para tocar y escuchar… Después apareció mas música de la familia Sautscheck….. y eso empezó a ser sospechoso y muchos nos preguntabamos como podía ser posible que nunca nadie hubiese escuchado de los Sautscheck y no apareciera su nombre en ningún lado… Hasta que con el tiempo se descubrió que el “Sr. Sautscheck” no era otro que el mismo Roman Turovsky…. Este disco tiene un dejo de nostalgia y combinación de estilos. Está básicamente compuesta con motivos folkloricos de su Ukrania natal, pero en una mezcla de por momentos estilo barroco y por momentos de estilo rococó… y por momentos de los dos… La mayoría de las obras son temas con variaciones. Muy bien interpretado por Christopher Wilke, es una delicia para el que lo escuche. Muy recomendable…

-Isidoro Roitman

"the Lied ohne
worte, ...the work in itself which is
of a beautiful transparency"

"the Tombeau-Zelenka2, it is sincerely a piece I can't help but listening over and over." - Phillippe Deiss,

"Direkt danach spielt Thomas Schall ein Tombeau. Das ist Trauermusik.
Ironie ist auch im Advent was Schönes. Die Musik klingt wie auf die
Laute zugeschnitten. In der Tat hat ein [zeitgenössischer]
Komponist, Joachim Peter Sautscheck, das Trauerlied über seinen toten
Vater geschrieben. Ergreifend, da tut sich beim Zuhören ein schwarzer
Abgrund auf, wie eine offene Grabstätte. " - Frankfurter Neue Presse

"Das Tombeau, das ich gespielt habe, ist sehr gut angekommen. Im
Presseartikel wird recht ausführlich darauf eingegangen und das
Publikum war beigeistert." - Thomas Schall

"". . . music is neither old nor modern: it is either good or bad music, and the
date at which it was written has no significance whatever. Dates and periods are
of interest only to the student of musical history. . . . All old music was
modern once, and much more of the music of yesterday already sounds more
old-fashioned than works which were written three centuries ago. All good music,
whatever its date, is ageless -- as alive and significant today as it was when
it was written . . ." - Peter Warlock

"OK there is a bit
of drollery attached to it, and that is nice, but the quality of the music
is very high. Especially your last works, or I mean the pieces you have
send to me. Many of the old Lutecomposers could not reach that level.
So, I have spoken!"

"My daily Lute exercises are almost completeley devoted to Sautscheck!
"About your music, I think that is really good. You have reached the top
ranks of Lute composers. Very beautiful."

" Mr. Sautscheck is the best what happenend to the
Lute community for more than 200 years. - Hans Kockelmans

"...but even Hagen's works which seem full of subtleties when viewed against Falkenhagen's dull music
are miles away from this [Sautschecks'] music and can by no means compete with it." -Bernhard Hoffstötter

"........
Lynda also played one of your pieces on her new 13 course lute
and I was most impressed. I can't remember the proper title but it
was something about remembrance of Miserere. Very nice indeed. The
only give-away was that it was somehow too easy to listen to, the
dissonances and turns of harmony were all in period but the aesthetic
of the piece as a whole seemed to fit a more modern ear. But why not,
I liked it a lot and would happily hear it in a concert." -David Van Edwards

"Tu diventi sempre piu' bachiano (il che e' un bel compliento)..." -Davide Zannoni

"I've been reading the Sonatas I & II; my favourite
one is -with great difference- the Sonata II (Allegro Risoluto). This
sonata has something!!!" -Eduard Agullo'-Serralta

"Dear Roman
Thank's for these files .
Facinating music;
but Alain send me the terrible revelation that you
are a great artist .
You are surely the last surrealist." -Richard Civiol

"What`s new is the use of
classic hamonies and in this combination the music of JPS is really lovely.
I like sonatas 1, 3 and 8 best. Really good baroque-lute music beside SLW!!!" -Martin Junge

"...the Sautscheck music had me
reaching for my 13course at 1am..." -Lynda Sayce

"Estimado Roman Turovsky.
Le doy las gracias por la gran labor que esta haciendo.
Un fuerte abrazo." -José Miguel Moreno

"Very beautiful! Thank you! Isn't it funny that sometimes it is
much easier to understand your music than your words..." -Arto Wikla

"....I listened to your compositions last night at Luca's concert. Nice music.... the public liked them very much and the applause was really warm; so you should
be happy." -Mara Galassi

"I'm really enjoying reading through the pieces, the style is one I'm not
used to and some of the pieces are really lovely." -Nigel Solomon

"This pieces are delighting me ! I play and play it again. A big thank you!" Jean-Daniel Forget

"Da quello che mi pare di aver capito, riguarda la contestazione circa i falsi di Torowski: non posso
che dire che esiste qualcuno che il senso del ridicolo non lo ha messo sotto le scarpe!"- Marco Marella

"Sautscheck is not a "little joke". It is a major vehicle for the dissemination of bad music which otherwise
would not get a moment's notice from anyone with a half baked sense of musical aesthetics. I don't think it is funny at all."

If we know for certain that this is a fictitious name, this name should certainly not be featured on the backside of a CD cover
(moreover in its full fake glory Gotthold Ephraim Sautscheck!). Moreover the real composer (or imposter if you prefer) should
be actually revealed and, furthermore, since from what I have understood this person is probably still alive and kicking,
he should certainly not be presented in a Baroque music CD! I am sorry to say that this is really a pathetic and ridiculous story,
harming you otherwise excellent CD. Thanking you, once again, for your kind cooperation, I remain,
Mit freundlichen Grüßen, - Tassos Dimitriadis

"It's good to know that the Sautscheck family is at last getting the recognition they deserve."- Andy Green,

"...It [TOMBEAU-JPS] is a meditative and inspired composition..."- Eduard Agullo',

" The way I consider it, most of the dearer of Sautscheks'
works _are_ tombeaux, actually. "- Mathias Røsel,

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