Tom Salvatori - Solo Guitar

On the Quiet Side of the Guitar

Set List Collection

A Word from the Composer:

The guitar solos featured in this collection form the very core of my live show set lists...these are the pieces that I come back to time and time again...that seem to live forever in my hands.

Spanning decades of composing, all were born as guitar solos in the quiet and threadbare setting of late-night playing and stand as a reminder of what I have spent my life trying to say with the nylon string guitar...that, to me, its beauty is found in simplicity.

A Word about the Instrument:

They say that a composer's musical voice is inextricably linked to the instrument that brings it to life. Over the years, these pieces were composed, performed and recorded exclusively on my 1972 Hernandis Grade #1 Classical Guitar, which features a Spanish Pine soundboard paired with Indian Rosewood back and sides...a combination I have enjoyed for its warmth, clear melodic projection, and deep, melancholic lower registers.

Quietly enjoy! -Tom Salvatori, July 2026

Selections from Set 1:

1. The Roads Leading Home, A Year in the Life, 2013

2. Sleepy Eyes Lullaby - Solo Guitar, When Evening Falls, 2007

3. Bells Prelude, Whispering for your Attention, 1998

4. Escher's Lullaby - Ode to Relativity - Solo Guitar, Ever Ever On, 2010

5. Turtle Crawl, A Year in the Life, 2013

6. As the Nightshade Grows - Solo Guitar, Ever Ever On, 2010

7. Whirlpool Song - Solo Guitar, Ever Ever On, 2010

8. Dissonanza, Tu Sei Bella Aci Catena - EP, 2009

9. Reflecting Absence - Solo Guitar, When Evening Falls, 2007

10. Church Song, When Evening Falls, 2007

Selections from Set 2:

1. Lullaby for Jude, Lullaby for Jude – EP, 2025

2. The Mirrored Ball, Invoking the Veiled Reference, 1997

3. Guitar Lament, When Evening Falls, 2007

4. Labyrinth II, When Evening Falls, 2007

5. Head Fake, Low Shot, A Year in the Life, 2013

6. Tucker's Lullaby - Solo Guitar, Late Night Guitar, 2001

7. Soft Landing - Solo Guitar, Late Night Guitar, 2001

8. Rolling Along - Solo Guitar, Late Night Guitar, 2001

9. Feather Fall - Solo Guitar, Late Night Guitar, 2001

10. Closing the Door - Solo Guitar, Late Night Guitar, 2001

All pieces Composed and Performed by Tom Salvatori

1997-2026 (C) (P) Salvatori Productions, Inc., ASCAP. All Rights reserved.

Paul Christian - An Acoustic Evening

A collection of acoustic mixes drawn from the Paul Christian albums American Dream (C) 2018 and That’s Everything (C) 2020

1. Lola – Acoustic Version 2:48
2. I Lost the War – Acoustic Version 3:35
3. Angel of Flies – Acoustic Version 3:32
4. Little Lisa – Acoustic Version 2:33
5. Name – Acoustic Version 3:51
6. That’s Everything – Acoustic Version 3:18
7. Memphis Tonight – Acoustic Version 3:21
8. Best Day of My Life – Acoustic Version 4:03
9. Waiting for My Turn – Acoustic Version 3:11
10. My Little One – Acoustic Version 3:11

UPC 199800679445

Stringed instruments featured on this album: • 2007 Breedlove Atlas Series AD25/SR Plus • 2002 Breedlove Pro Series AD25/SRH • 2014 Taylor T5z Acoustic/Electric • circa 1963 Harmony H1215 Tenor Guitar • circa 1930 Ludwig Kingston 4 String Banjo • circa 2009 Regal RD-40 Resonator Guitar • circa 2009 Rogue RM-100A Mandolin

All songs Composed, Performed and Recorded by Paul Christian

Produced by Tom Salvatori and Paul Christian Edited and Mixed by Tom Salvatori Mastered at The SoundLAB by Tom Scheponik

2025 (C)(P) Salvatori Productions, Inc., ASCAP - All Rights Reserved - salvatoriproductions.com

Track 1 - Lullaby for Jude – Composed by Tom Salvatori * When words fail, music heals. Dedicated to the Memory of Jude Meier, infant son of Noah and Alexa Meier, and to the Meier and Salvatori families

Track 2 - With This Love - Composed by Peter Gabriel for PASSION, Music for The Last Temptation of Christ, a film by Martin Scorsese - 1989 (C) Realworld / Virgin Records, Ltd. - All Rights Reserved. Arranged for Solo Guitar by Tom Salvatori

Track 3 - I Wait and I Wonder – Composed by Tom Salvatori

Track 4 - Suite #1 from Peer Gynt, Op. 46, 2nd Mvmt - Composed in 1879 by Edvard Grieg (Norway, 1843-1907) as incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's Play Peer Gynt and extracted by Grieg in 1888 to form Suite #1, Op 46, 2nd Mvmt (Public Domain). Arranged for Solo Guitar by Tom Salvatori

5 newly recorded solo nylon string guitar pieces; in the first two I have reimagined other composers works as guitar lullabies. My arrangements stay strongly reverent to the original form and structure of the compositions, but I present the pieces in a way that I anticipate neither composer would have ever expected to hear their work...Mendelssohn in his Violin Concerto #1 in E minor (excerpt from 2nd Movement) and Silvestrov in his Serenade for Solo Violin...as solo nylon string guitar lullabies.

I pick up the composing from there to introduce 3 new pieces that I have recently written and recorded.

PRESS REVIEWS:

December 9, 2024 Press Review - Peter Thelen, Expose.Org: ...the two classical covers “Mendelssohn’s Andante” and “Silvestrov’s Serenade” are front loaded, staying very respectful of the form and structure of the originals, though both were originally intended for violin, not guitar, with the three Salvatori originals following after that. The first of the three new compositions “To and Fro” serving as a bridge between the classical leanings of the two openers and the originals. “Lullaby for Henry” is a warm and emotional effort that closes the album nicely.

November 11, 2024 - Press review - Dmitry Esptein, DMME.net: Locating his place between the past and the future, Illinoisian master of six-string lace embraces the vibe of lullabies.

There’s a fine line between playing a tune that’s supposed to get the audience to sleep and not sounding so soporific as to spoil the listening experience, and Tom Salvatori is walking this line quite elegantly on a short, yet sweet, mini-album which follows 2021’s "Seven Guitar Miniatures" in stylistic terms while offering a different concept. The five pieces on display here pick up where the “Goodnight Lullaby” EP left off a year earlier, and, if combined, the two instrumental cycles, could form a lengthier, though hardly deeper, dive into hypnagogic state, but the American musician didn’t dare and endanger the wakeful perception of his enchanting melodies. And not only his.

Starting “La Bella Vita” off are “Mendelssohn’s Andante” and “Silvestrov’s Serenade” – two classical pieces, both originally written for violin by Berlin-based composers – that perfectly lend their unhurried vibrancy to nylon strings which allow resonance reign when a note is let fly and suspended animation of the first number and exquisite sensuality of the latter one create a magnificent contrast. So when Salvatori’s own “To And Fro” adds chiming baroque grandeur to the flow, his strum introducing a stained-glass brightness along the way, the sparsely placed sounds and mesmeric tempo get amalgamated into something almost magical, and “Riposo” infuses it all with folk motifs. And then there’s an intimate “Lullaby For Henry” bringing the record to a close via personal touch contained in the guitar-song’s very title.

So if the listener will go into a dream, it’s guaranteed to be beauty sleep, for life feels good with music like this.

November 25, 2024 Press Review, Robert Silverstein, mwe3.com

Starting out in the 1970s as a founding member of the embryonic Chicago-based prog-rock band Apocalypse, co-founded with his brother Michael, Tom Salvatori has evolved into a guitarist and composer of the highest order. While he’s released a number of solo classical guitar-based albums over the past 30 years, Tom has been especially prolific in recent years and, late in 2024 he released a new 5-track CDEP called La Bella Vita.

In the spirit of his other recent CDEP releases including Respite Guitar (2021) and Seven Guitar Miniatures (2022), the 2024 release of La Bella Vita finds Tom performing music written by a couple of his favorite composers, while adding in a few new originals that shed further light on his wide-ranging classical guitar background.

Speaking about the new recordings on La Bella Vita, Tom explains, “5 newly recorded solo nylon string guitar pieces; in the first two I have reimagined other composers works as guitar lullabies. My arrangements stay strongly reverent to the original form and structure of the compositions, but I present the pieces in a way that I anticipate that neither composer would have ever expected to hear their work. Mendelssohn, in his “Violin Concerto #1 in E minor”, excerpt from 2nd Movement and Silvestrov, in his “Serenade for Solo Violin” ... as solo nylon string guitar lullabies. I pick up the composing from there to introduce 3 new pieces that I have recently written and recorded.”

Leading off the La Bella Vita CDEP, Felix Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto #1 in E minor (Excerpt from 2nd Movement)” was actually written in 1845 and nearly 180 years later, Tom Salvatori distills Mendelssohn’s essence in a solo guitar piece that clocks in a little over 3 minutes. On track 2, Ukrainian composer Valentyn Silvestrov is paid homage to on La Bella Vita with Tom adapting his “Serenade For Solo Violin”, turning it into a brief yet effective minor keyed classic for classical guitar.

Of the new originals on La Bella Vita, the CD-closing track “Lullaby For Henry” is one of the most melodic solo classical guitar pieces Tom has put on record.

Track 4, “Riposo” is a studied solo classical piece written by Tom in a mostly minor key, yet the track fits in well on La Bella Vita, while “To And Fro” is another minor key classical guitar original written by Tom.

The 5-track CD-EP is a brief 15 minutes in length, yet with one noteworthy musical moment after the next, it’s over way too soon. Music listeners lucky enough to have heard Tom’s Respite Guitar and Seven Guitar Miniatures will thoroughly enjoy La Bella Vita. Despite the abbreviated time, one thing is clear; La Bella Vita is a most welcome return to form by classical guitarist and composer Tom Salvatori.

Due to popular demand, we are providing a separate release of the CD that was originally designed to accompany the 2023 Solo Guitar Sheet Music Book entitled "A Lifetime in Music" by Tom Salvatori. 

This CD represents a collection of the 19 solo guitar pieces featured in the sheet music book (composed between 1995 and 2022). The CD is an excellent introduction to the solo guitar work of Tom Salvatori.

Featured tracks:

1. Channels to the Sea (1995)
2. Echoes Response (1995)
3. Labyrinth (1997)
4. Came Traveling (1997)
5. Another Lullaby (1998)
6. Soft Landing (2001)
7. Feather Fall (2001)
8. Rolling Along (2001)
9. Sleepy Eyes Lullaby (2007)
10. Tu Sei Bella Aci Catena (2009)
11. Dissonanza (2009)
12. Escher’s Lullaby (Ode to Relativity) (2010)
13. Whirlpool Song (2010)
14. As the Nightshade Grows (2010)
15. Spanish Dance (2015)
16. Low Tide (2016)
17. Remembrances (2020)
18. Sunset Glows (2021)
19. Goodnight Lullaby (2022)

THE NYLON STRING GUITAR IN ENSEMBLE (2023) is a reissue collection of the Guitar ensemble pieces from:

2007 * - When Evening Falls by Tom Salvatori and Iris Litchfield

2010 **- Ever Ever On by Tom Salvatori and Iris Litchfield

The Nylon String Guitar in Ensemble Track Listing:

1. Sleepy Eyes Lullaby *

2. Guitar Lament *

3. Reflecting Absence *

4. Majestic Interlude *

5. Church Song *

6. Labyrinth II *

7. Quiet Reflections *

8. The Ghosts of Levigliani **

9. Escher's Lullaby (Ode to Relativity) **

10. Whirlpool Song **

11. Dark Round **

12. As the Nightshade Grows **

13. Folk Dance **

PRESS REVIEWS:

Minor 7th Review featured July 9th, 2024 Summer Issue:

"The Nylon String Guitar in Ensemble" 2023

From its title, the listener knows what to expect texturally from guitarist and composer Tom Salvatori's album, which serves as a reissue collection of pieces from two prior recordings: When Evening Falls (2007) and Ever Ever On (2010). To indicate more specifically, Salvatori's performances on this reissue happen in concord with cello, contrabass, violin, viola, oboe, and oboe d'amore. The broader-stroked moniker of neoclassical is close to the mark regarding the program's compositional style and scope, but intentionally quiet might be a more apt designation. These pieces are highly melodic, beautifully arranged, and exquisitely performed. They were purposefully created to soothe and aid in relaxation at the end of the day and Salvatori consistently hits the mark on both fronts throughout this charming program. © David Pedrick

Expose.Org Press Review by Peter Thelen, December 9, 2024:

With 'The Nylon String Guitar in Ensemble' we are treated to thirteen classical guitar compositions, each with a compliment of strings (violin, viola, cell and double bass), and / or double reeds (oboe, oboe d’amore) filling in behind the guitar, giving these pieces a neo-classical feel (or some might say new age) — though what we have here is very precise and delicate, not so dreamy or pretty, but all thoroughly enjoyable. Some of the standouts include “Escher’s Lullaby,” “Quiet Reflections,” “Reflecting Absence,” the opener “Sleepy Eyes Lullaby,” and the closer “Folk Dance,” but honestly there is wonder and beauty to be found in every one of these pieces, and the arrangements are exquisite and refined...a full 47 minutes of majestic classical guitar.