I’ve had the pleasure and fortune of knowing Richard Stadler for a couple of years now, and the more I have heard him play the more I have realized he’s a unique player; there aren’t many who can treat the guitar as a dance floor.  With his passion for dance as well as music it begins to make sense that I hear his fingers dancing across the fretboard in his three “Self Love” pieces.  On a personal level, I notice that Rich has always been interested in the power music can have over people.  As a musician, I can tell you that his music speaks.  This isn’t a fact to be taken lightly- I hear this in musicians such as Ravi Shankar as I hear it in Rich’s pieces.

The rendition of “Stairway to Heaven” is very true to the original- it feels as though it’s an echo of the past, almost a good bye to the great era of Led Zeppelin.  Oh, but does it rock!  The climax of the piece is still energetic and fun before it reaches its conclusion, which is all too beautiful on a classical guitar.

I recommend this album as a look into a musician’s heart and mind- the music is true in every sense of the word, and to find music that still speaks is rare in these days.
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