I happen to think that the sound of a guitar orchestra is special, that it is a sound world of its own and there is a sound that no other instruments en masse can reproduce.
There are many who disagree with me, who, through experience of bad ensembles, think that guitar orchestra is synonymous with out of tune, imprecise, unmusical quasi-ensemble.
To remind ourselves of the coming concerts on
Saturday 17th August at Menuhin Hall (1.30pm) and
Sunday 18th at West Dean (1.45pm)
here is a clip of the National Youth Guitar Ensemble with Belinda Evans at Rugby School last Easter.
The pieces are four Hebridean Songs I arranged for soprano and guitar orchestra.
On the final leg of my summer school/teaching junket, it’s yet another acronym but one that many are familiar with – the National Youth Guitar Ensemble, which I have been conducting since 2005 when arranger and 19thC guitar supremo Chris Susans stepped down in order to be administrator.
