During his long career Bream’s devoted commitment to championing the guitar enhanced its reputation as a concert hall instrument immeasurably, and his encouragement of composers has left the repertoire so much richer, something he continues to do today thorough his Trust. Gramophone editor Martin Cullingford met him at his home to talk about his musical life and career.
Musicians should get what they deserve for their work.
Probably John’s final official concert in Asia.
Thanks to Wong Yik Hung for this
Glenn Gould this time.
Bach, says Gould, was not so much ahead of his time as outside it. “For Bach, you see, was music’s greatest non-conformist, and one of the supreme examples of that independence of the artistic conscience that stands quite outside the collective historical process.” and
“Bach was the greatest architect of sound of all time”
Two years ago Julian Bream was walking with his retriever, Django, in the fields around his Dorset home, when a neighbour’s dog knocked him to the ground, breaking both hips and injuring his left hand. For several years, Britain’s greatest virtuoso of guitar and lute had played through the pain of arthritis, but these new injuries compelled him to renounce making music seriously. He had retired in 2002 after 55 years of professional performing, but still liked to give the occasional recital at churches or halls near his home.
Thus ended his longest affair, one that started when nine-year-old Julian put on one of his dad’s Quintette du Hot Club de France LPs and was seduced by what he calls the “burning anguish” of Django Reinhardt’s playing.
At last, some hints from Jorge, whose ease of execution and acute analytical mind I have always admired. Quite difficult to understand this concept intellectually, but you will get it if you try it.
This has been around for a little while now and I am hoping for a new lesson soon!
Thank you Jorge.
In the meantime, there is an interesting excerpt here.
Seems that many people responded (positively) to the post on JAL’s treatment of guitars on internal flights, so as a way of jumping on the luggage carousel, I thought that I would add some positive recommendations.
For me, the most stressful part of taking a guitar on a flight is the uncertainty that it will be allowed as cabin baggage or not, or that it will be well taken care of in transit in the hold, so here is a list of positive experiences I have had with ground staff and flight crew.
A name to conjure with, Karl Scheit was born in 1909 in Schönbrunn (Schlesien), Austria and died in 1993.
He was the guitar editor for Universal Edition, one of the largest and most prestigious publishers of guitar music in the mid 20th century, with publications in English, French, German and Italian. There is now a new and refurbished “Karl Scheit guitar edition”. Most guitarists I know have at some point or other used his editions, which include the Quatre Pièces Brèves by Frank Martin and Richard Rodney Bennet’s Impromptus.
How often do we suspect that there is more going on in Bach’s music than meets the ear?
Well, a mathematical image-maker Jos Leys has managed to show visually how the first canon from Bach’s Musical Offering looks as it crawls its way first forward, then in reverse, then in both directions at once! Luckily we only have the odd fugue to contend with in the guitar/lute repertoire of Bach and we can play more than two strings simultaneously, unlike viola da gamba players.
Many thanks to Nigel Warburton for passing this on.
Leonard Bernstein’s conclusion to his insightful lecture series, “The Unanswered Question” given at Harvard and televised in 1973.
Just to remind ourselves that Bernstein is more than “West Side Story”!
