A new video of Gilbert Biberian’s “Haiku” played by its dedicatee, Alison Bendy.
When Alison Bendy asked me to record Gilbert Biberian’s six “Haiku”,
I jumped at the chance – here it is, two days later.
The pieces were dedicated to Alison on her birthday in March 1982 and are based on haiku by Basho, Busan and Moritake, masters of the genre.
These miniatures are similarly, masterpieces of the genre and well worth a look if you are a guitarist.
Alison Bendy is having a sale to promote her new website which features mp3 downloads of accompaniments for the best selling guitar method, The Guitarist’s Way by John Whitworth and Peter Nuttall and publishes by Holley Music.
One of the sale items is a bundled download of Ten of my Etudes Esquisses, beautifully performed by Alison and expertly recorded by Oli Whitworth.
That’s £1.50 for Ten Etudes, which at 15p each is a real bargain!
Etudes Esquisses in the mp3 bundle:
1 Etude No 1 L’Amour Soucoupier
2 Etude No 3 Flocon de Neige
3 Etude No 4 Les Ajoncs d’Or
4 Etude No 6 Apres midi d’un Cafard
5 Etude No 8 Entre-maestro
6 Etude No 11 Vert dansant
7 Etude No 12 Coeur de la Rose
8 Etude No 17 Tournesol
9 Etude No 18 Argent….
10 Etude No 19 Les Moulines Mariniers
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Here are some nice pictures by West Dean stalwart, Bill Brooks
And here is the first performance of my piece for guitar and guitar orchestra “Heart of the Rose”, played by Alison Bendy and the West Dean Festival orchestra at the final concert.
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West Dean Guitar Summer School raised money for its bursary fund for young guitarists by raffling off a guitar generously donated by luthier Earl Marsh.
This guitar is named “Celine” and has a very beautiful back and sides made from bird’s eye maple. It was donated by Earl and its case was donated by Hiscox Cases.
The surprise winner was… Continue reading
West Dean – the name conjures up well appointed gardens, a flint covered manor in the middle of the rolling Sussex countryside, sheep, cream teas, Surrealists, the eccentric Edward James and a lively yet dignified community of craftsmen and women, engaged in furniture making, restoration, stained glass, tapestry, blacksmithing, and crafts we only read about in books.
It’s 2.00am, the bar is closed, the atmosphere is hazy and you are down to your last cigarette. You are weary and sad and on your own…. c’est le cafard…
Find more Esquisses as mp3 downloads from her site!
The Guitarist’s Way Challenge
Singing the whole of The Guitarist’s Way Book 1, plus test on what is on a particular page…
Plus Videos with most of us wearing a fetching red tailcoat!
The alternative performing space I like best is Goldberg’s room next door to his boss Count Kaiserling. The Count was an insomniac and used to get Goldberg to play the clavichord to while away the night – no iPod or TV!
I often wonder how Goldberg must have spent his day and when he had time to practise! Of course, this would all have been a footnote in history if Forkel, Bach’s biographer had not written that Count Kaiserling had commissioned old Bach to write his eponymous set of variations for Goldberg. The Count was reported to have said, frequently ‘Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations.’
A few years back, where would you have been able to listen to the following guitarists in a more or less regular series for free? Xue Fei Yang, Johannes Moller, David Leisner, Alison Smith, the Eden Stell Duo, Gerald Garcia and Alison Bendy?
The following article made me think about a couple of forthcoming concerts that I will be taking part in.
Classical Music magazine – Southbank granted time to rethink controversial Festival Wing plans
JFCAHBBH!? Another acronym?
More guitarists playing together – in this case, 50 of them, from different guitar societies across the UK. The Federation of Guitar Societies
I had the privilege of meeting these dedicated souls,