5 Artists, 5 Guitar Stylings : Music: European and Asian performers bring world’s fare to CSUF series. Taiwan’s Den-Min Yeh plays tonight.

Pick your favorite classical guitarists and your list probably will include Andres Segovia, Julian Bream, Christopher Parkening, several of the various Romeros and a handful of others. All are well-known musical veterans.

What about younger talent, or people who have reputations in Europe but not in the United States? Who are they and where can you hear them?

Try the new guitar series that opens tonight at Cal State Fullerton. Over the next eight months, five artists from countries ranging from Taiwan and Korea to Serbia and Spain will play traditional repertory and some of their own works.

“These are for the most part young professionals,” said Cal State Fullerton guitar faculty member David Grimes, who organized the series. “We’ve often had guest artists here in the past, but we’ve done it on sporadic basis, so we’ve never gotten audiences used to coming here. We’re hoping to change that with this all-international series.”

The guitarists are Den-Min Yeh from Taiwan; Uros Dojcinovic from Serbia; Margarita Escarpa from Spain; Hae-Kwon Oh from Korea, and Wolfgang Lendle from Germany. Dojcinovic and Lendle have attracted followers in Europe, while the others are just now establishing their careers.

Lendle, said Grimes, is “one of the most brilliant guitarists on the world stage today. Why? Technically he’s a monster. His technique is frightening--just the absolutely incredible velocity at which he can execute scales, arpeggios and chords with clarity and precision. Critics normally praise him a lot--aside from the brilliance of his technique--for his musicianship and his spontaneity. He’s a live wire on stage. He lights up the auditorium.”

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Escarpa, who is in her early 20s, won last year’s Guitar Foundation of America international competition. “I was one of the judges,” Grimes said. “She competed against 100 guitarists from all over the world. As part of prize, she’s awarded a 50-concert tour of the U.S. to help launch her career.”

All the recitals will take place in the Recital Hall, which guitarist Richard Turner, who joined Grimes on the faculty last year, calls “acoustically perfect” for classical guitar.

“In a lot of big halls, you just can’t hear a guitarist,” he said. “This is a place where you can sit back and comfortably hear everything going on, and also the tickets at $7 are a bargain.”

Turner also has a few pointers for inexperienced listeners:

* Don’t expect to like everything on a program. “It’s fine to pick and choose, to find things you like,” he said. “If most of what you like is Scarlatti or Bach, there’s nothing wrong with that. Guitarists and guitar teachers have our favorites. Everybody has their favorite styles and periods of music. I rarely go to a concert where I just adore all the music.”

* Don’t be bothered by “string” noise--the sound made when a guitarist slides a finger up and down a string. “A lot of people perceive string noise as a technical fault because on a recording, they use strings that don’t make noise or they process the noise out of the recording,” he said. But strings that don’t make noise--flat ribbon is wound around the string, instead of wire, which creates ridges--also “sound like a set of worn-out strings. So most people put up with a bit of mechanical noise. People need to be reminded that all instruments create some mechanical noise, like the clacking of keys on an oboe or a flute. That’s part of the experience.”

* Don’t expect flawless playing, either. “People who only listen to recordings, if they go to a concert and hear a mistake or a player having a memory lapse, they think the player’s no good. But it happens. Recordings are edited enough to have an absolutely flawless recording, but a whole lot of musicians feel that a lot of spirit gets lost in the recording process of making every note perfect.”

In addition to the soloists, the CSUF Guitar Ensemble will give two group concerts on the series, but these will be held in the Little Theater.

The ensemble actually is quite large, consisting of all 30 guitar majors at the school.

“We try to play as much music as possible that was written for a guitar orchestra,” Grimes said. “Yes, there are guitar orchestras. They’re rare, and they do cover a wide range. We’re using all standard guitars, but I’m considering extending the range by adding treble and bass guitars. It’s great fun.”

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In his 22 years teaching at the school, Grimes has seen interest in the instrument wax and wane.

“It seems to go in waves,” he said. “In the ‘60s, a lot of people got into the guitar through folk music. Then that died out. More recently, some of the better rock guitarists have been claiming they got their technique through studying classical guitar. So we have rock guitarists studying to increase their skills, too.”

Grimes, 54, was a performing teacher who toured a lot “until about five years ago when I developed a hand injury--focal dystonia, a nerve muscle-combination where the finger forgets how to release. I have been gradually recuperating from that.

“In my case, the middle finger of my right hand would not return. It was so subtle. There was never any pain or untoward sensation. If I had not been a musician, I would not have known there was any problem. But in playing, the fine control you need for rapid movements, the subtle tension created in that push for the upper levels of technique, my finger wouldn’t work. I got a lot of bad advice from a lot of doctors who didn’t know how to treat it. I found that the only thing I could do was retrain my hand.

“It’s very insidious. A lot of musicians develop it. Most try to play around it by retraining to play with [only] a couple of fingers. I almost didn’t play for two years. I couldn’t stand that either. I’m now accepting engagements for next spring. I’m excited about getting back on stage. I missed it a lot.”

* Guitarist Den-Min Yeh will perform tonight in the Recital Hall at Cal State Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton. 8 p.m. $4-$7. (714) 773-3371.

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CSUF GUITAR SERIES

The ‘95-’96 Season:

* Sept. 21: Den-Min Yeh Music by Toru Takemitsu based on songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; Leo Brouwer; others.

* Oct. 26: Uros Dojcinovic. Works by Ponce Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Dojcinovic.

* Nov. 2: Margarita Escarpa. Music by Weiss, Bach, Lendle.

* Dec. 12: CSUF Guitar Ensemble (Little Theater). Music for various ensembles.

* Feb. 23: Hae-Kwon Oh. Baroque and contemporary guitar and lute music.

* March 19: Wolfgang Lendle. Works by Asenio, Barrios, Lendle, Scarlatti, Rodrigo.

* May 17: VSUF Guitar Ensemble (Little Theater). Music for various ensembles.

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All programs, except as noted, will be given in the Recital Hall at Cal State Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd, Fullerton. Programs begin at 8 p.m. $7. Information: (714) 773-3371.