I know there has been rather a lot of Bream on telly recently (just look at the related links below), but if you live in the UK, you owe it to yourself to watch this marvellous programme  if you are one of the two or three guitarists who didn’t see it tonight.

The programme consisted mainly of complete performances of music played by Julian Bream on BBC TV over the last 40 years or so and shows his wide influence on the acceptance of the guitar as well as the revival of the renaissance lute. Also, his playing on live TV is magical.

Highlights for me were the 3rd movement of Malcolm Arnold’s concerto conducted by the composer, the Bream consort playing Byrd, Bream and George Malcolm, Bream and Williams playing Albeniz and Bream and Yussef Allie playing Nuages.
Well, OK most of it…

There is also a sense of a passing age seeing the two retired maestros Bream and Williams knocking the spots off most modern duos.

The link to playback is still active until 31stJanuary, so go get it if you haven’t seen it already!
I hope the BBC make this more widely available.
Other archive programmes so far include Menuhin at the BBC and Tortelier at the BBC.

Here is a bit about the programme

Petroc Trelawney presents the last in his series exploring the great classical stars through the BBC film archive. He spotlights the legendary British guitarist Julian Bream. Now 80 years old, Bream’s life and music were richly documented through regular appearances on television from the 1960s to the 1980s. Performances include Malcolm Arnold’s Guitar Concerto conducted by the composer, duets with John Williams, hot jazz, classical transcriptions and lute music performed with Bream’s own Early Music Consort.