Photo by Paul Cox

By his own account, Dominic Miller has one of the best day jobs anyone could hope for. As Sting's guitarist since 1989, he's toured the world several times over and played on seven albums with him. He's also guested on a wide range of recordings, from Phil Collins and Bryan Adams to Nigel Kennedy and Pavarotti, and released a handful of jazz-tinged solo albums in his copious spare time.

It was before Sting's most recent world tour that a gift from his boss would provide the impetus for his current album, Shapes. "He handed me a book of Bach partitas and sonatas and said, 'This should keep you occupied.'"

Obsessed was more like it, as Miller spent most of his down time in his hotel room working out the violin arrangements on guitar. "It became something of a friendly sparring match between Sting and myself, working out bits of these pieces to show each other," Miller recalls.

After the tour, Miller played one of the partitas for producer Nick Patrick, who suggested  cutting an album of classical pieces. "I wasn't immediately taken with the idea," Miller recounts. "I didn't want it to be held up against the works of classical guitar masters like Julian Bream or Christopher Parkening." Though Miller received some classical training at London's famed Guildhall, "I'm primarily coming to these pieces from the rock world. My technique and my interpretation are decidedly non-traditional, and these are pieces that weren't written for guitar or lute, but rather for violin and other classical instruments."

Miller's perspective on classical music is certainly not what the curriculum of Guildhall or Juilliard would dictate. Still, it's not hard to imagine the Great Masters would approve. "Part of the reason I was so disenfranchised from my own classical education is that much of what they were teaching was almost dogmatic in nature. Traditional classical training has always placed a strong emphasis on technique, which is good, but there's a tendency to favour rote and repetition over creativity - learning the notes rather than really listening and focusing on what's happening emotionally within the music. Improvisation is downplayed and almost discouraged. It's odd, because if you think about the creative process of a genius like Bach, he had to have been improvising and creating these pieces in his head."

Certainly Miller has a deep respect for the spirit in which the music was intended. "There's a soul and spirituality to this music, and that's what has kept it alive for so long. I don't know any serious songwriter who wouldn't aspire to the chord progressions Bach used. But in the end, I'm not really trying to play classical music as much as I'm trying to play these songs the way I hear them, interpreting this music in the time that I live and work, in 2004."

The album also adds pieces like Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Schubert's Ave Maria and a rendition of Shape of My Heart, a cut he wrote with Sting, who sings on the track. That song was actually inspired by an idea from Chopin, using walking sixths."

Though he favours a traditionally classical Rodriguez guitar, Miller is hardly obsessed with technique. "I don't use a footstool or classical form. I stopped playing with fingernails because they kept breaking. Then I discovered I get a better sound with flesh anyway. I think the best technique is the one that works for you."

The album's string arrangements, created by noted composer Nick Ingham, were recorded in Budapest and add a distinctively orchestral feel. Still, the album is clearly a departure from more strictly classical recordings. Miller is quick to respond to critics of this approach. "People can say this is not what Bach or Beethoven intended, but how do we really know what they intended? What they've given us is basically a blueprint."

Listening to Miller expound on the subject, one wonders what the Great Masters would be creating if they lived in modern times. "Let's put this in perspective. These guys didn't have the tools we have today - no recording equipment or modern instruments - nor did they have a radio audience or notoriety. And yet they were churning it out. Bach wrote the equivalent of Sgt Pepper's or Pet Sounds or Songs in the Key of Life every Sunday."

© Performing Songwriter | 2004

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