Album Notes

Classical Guitar Magazine Review by Steve Marsh - January 2009

"Bruce Paine's original compositions are amongst the finest I've had the pleasure to review..."

"He writes inspirational music from the extremely dramatic to the quietly sensitive with equal skill."

"..this is an excellent guitarist who happens to write quality music to a very high standard and this is a recording which in no way will gather dust in my record collection..."

"Lateral Lines is an excellent production all round: a great recorded sound: superb music and performance of it: and a 14-page full-colour booklet with interesting and in-depth information concerning the compositions and exceptional photography."

About Bruce Paine

Bruce Paine’s first formal guitar tuition began when he was 10. At age 11 he played to his peers at intermediate school assembly but did not fully realise his performance ability until much later on.

He continued guitar lessons until his late teens and eventually joined the Classic Guitar Society of Auckland, which lead to his participating in several New Zealand guitar summer schools and a variety of performance opportunities. Consequently he met and received tuition from visiting international guitarists. Bruce’s ability and dedication was recognised and he was encouraged to further his training.

So in 1990, putting his computer career on hold, he commenced studies in performance guitar at the University of Auckland, School of Music, under the tutelage of Gunter Herbig. During his studies Bruce became an auditioned Radio New Zealand recording artist. Graduating with an Honours Diploma he went on to successfully gain a place in the semi-finals of the 1995 Shell Darwin International Guitar Competition and in later years toured England, France, Austria, the Czech Republic (in concert with Štěpán Rak) and New Zealand.

In 1999 Bruce commissioned and later premiered the solo guitar suite “Pioneer Spirit” by New Zealand composer David Hamilton. This has been recorded and released on Bruce’s CD Guitar@Museum.

More recently Bruce has taken a new direction by writing and performing a collection of his own solo guitar compositions. He drew inspiration for his music from various images including underwater sea life, New Zealand scenery, an English country church and a Russian folk poem. These pieces appear on his new CD, Lateral Lines.
To Bruce the most important and challenging thing about writing music is to be original while producing something that will be enjoyed by all audiences. Bruce’s greatest hope is that his compositions are appreciated as fresh and appealing works.