Many thanks to Alberto Cuellar, whom I met in Shanghai – a Flamenco guitarist and cool guy who also runs a website in Chinese dedicated to the guitar. This is slightly strange, my interview in English, translated into Chinese answered in Chinese, but with Chinese subtitles!
selftaughtgirl has this to say about this wonderful concert, which most of the known guitar world in the UK at the time attended:
“John Williams gave a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (UK) on 19th July 1989 which was broadcast live on the radio. I was at the concert so a friend pressed the record button for me. I remember JW limping onto the stage as he had hurt himself playing tennis and also him reading the Ponce from the score. I last heard him only a couple of weeks ago playing two concertos at the RFH (the main hall next door to the QEH) and still on fine form.
Villa-Lobos: 5 Preludes
Ponce: Variations and fugue on “La Folia”
Brouwer:Elogio de la Danza, Berceuse, Danza Characteristica
Barrios: La Ultima Cancion, Cueca, Aconquija, Choro de Saudade, Waltzes Op 8 Nos 3 & 4
Piazzolla: Verano Portena (as encore)”
This is a marvellous record of a great performance. Thank you, selftaughtgirl!
A few years earlier, the newly reformed “John Williams and Friends”, of which I was a part, toured the UK, Ireland and Italy. Unlike this concert, there were quite a few hi jinx on stage (including Brian Gulland, taking a break from his bassoon duties,dressed as a chef and making an omelette while JW and I played some duets!).
Iserlohn 2014 was a wonderful place to reconnect with old friends and make new ones.
Here is an interview with Rene Izquierdo, whom I finally got to meet and listen to.
Some photos of the festival – thanks to all who took part to make it a special place for making wonderful music and friends.
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selftaughtgirl’s recording of a radio broadcast from the 1980s of a studio concert by Marcelo Kayath:
Buxtehude: Suite in Em (arr Bream)
Jolivet: Comme un prelude
Sor: Sonata Op 15
Nobre: Prologo e Toccata
Rare performances of the Jolivet and Nobre and a nicely ornamented version of the Buxtehude Sarabande.
Also, here is a very interesting article in Guitar Salon International by Kayath which poses the question of whether the guitar is a miniature orchestra, and reflections on Bream and Segovia.
Here is a 17 year old Kayath playing Ponce
An interesting postscript is that In 1992 he went to Stanford to get his MBA and after graduating became an investment banker, eventually becoming co-CEO of Credit Suisse Investment Banking in Brazil, a $1 billion business!
Glad that a guitarist made it.
Luckily he can now afford to come back to the guitar
Something special –
selftaughtgirl’s recording of a radio broadcast from the 1980s in which Robert Spencer (a leading figure in the early music field, equally accomplished as a singer, lutenist, guitarist, musicologist and teacher) introduces recordings made by Miguel Llobet (3 in duo with Maria Luisa Anido).
Coste: Etude Op 38 No 23
Sor: Etude Op 35 No 22 (ie. Segovia #5)
Llobet: El Testament d’Amelia, El Mestre
Mendelssohn: Song without words Op 62 No 1
Albeniz: Evocacion
Aguirre: Huella
Llobet: Study in E (played by Leif Christensen)
Quijano: Estilo Popular Argentino
Continuing our exploration of “historic” and rare guitar performances courtesy of selftaughtgirl, a radio broadcast from the 1980s of a studio concert by Gabriel Estarellas:
Anon.: Six Renaissance Dances
Sor: Variations on “Marlborough S’en Va T’en Guerre”, Op. 28
Ponce: Estrellita
Dodgson: Partita No 3 (first broadcast performance)
From NPR, a historic meeting
by BOB BOILEN
Eliot Fisk looks like the happiest man on the planet. Watch that face as he plays guitar. Between performing music by J.S. Bach and partnering with the world’s best flamenco guitarist, Paco Peña, Fisk can barely control his joy. I find his exuberance and their performance undeniably brilliant, inspiring and so completely universal.
Set List
Credits
Producers: Bob Boilen, Denise DeBelius; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Denise DeBelius, Olivia Merrion; Production Assistant: Meredith Rizzo; photo by Meredith Rizzo/NPR
A date for your diary –
Friday 25th July – 7.30pm
THE CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST
109A Iffley Rd, OXFORD OX4 1EH
Here is a video of NYGE at Easter
Video by Sophie Standford
National Youth Guitar Ensemble, Easter Concert, April 2014
Anton Arensky (1891-1906) Variations on a theme of Tchaikovsky arranged by S. Gordon
Performed at The Menuhin Hall, Stoke D’Abernon, Surrey, UK
Musical Director: Gerald Garcia
Last Year with Belinda Evans
Gerald Garcia conducts the National Youth Guitar Ensemble with Belinda Evans in his “Four Hebridean Songs”. Easter 2013
The National Youth Guitar Ensemble
& Vida Quartet
Friday 25th July – 7.30pm
THE CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST
109A Iffley Rd, OXFORD OX4 1EH
www.sje-oxford.org
Programme includes works by:
Borodin, Mussorgsky, Arensky, Arnold,
Inti Illimani, Gershwin and first performance of
Gerlad Garcia’s Concerto for Guitar Quartet
Tickets are £10 (Conc. £8) and FREE for Under 18s.
Tickets are available on the door or can be reserved by contacting the NYGE Co-ordinator:
Tel. 07761 425405
Email: info@nyge.co.uk
Web: www.nyge.co.uk
Selftaughtgirl is on the trail again!
First off, this recording of Gabriel Estarellas, introduced by Stephen Dodgson, who came to stay during these recordings. I was always fascinated by the network of well known guitarists in those days – he was a friend of Cheryl Grice, who was living in Oxford at the time.