Classical Guitar Virtuoso Profile: Julian Bream
No one can dispute the dedication & artistry of Julian Bream. I saw him in concert in 1988 but it wasn't until many years later that I realised how much of a legend he actually was.
Julian Bream - The Legend!
Introduction
Julian Bream is without a doubt my favourite classical guitarist. I was privileged enough to see the living legend perform in my first year of guitar lessons in 1988. From memory I think most of his repertoire at the time was very modern and featured 'All in Twilight' by Toru Takemitsu. The downside of the recital was that I had only just started learning classical guitar and I couldn't appreciate the virtuosity and the grandeur of the musicianship that was on display. Honestly I didn't even really know who Julian Bream was. I do clearly recall my guitar teacher telling me later that Julian Bream also organised and marketed his own concerts around the world. That is something that I find truly staggering.
Why Do I Like Julian Bream?
I like Julian Bream for three main reasons:
- His uncanny ability to find the important melodic lines or rhythms within a piece
- His astonishing use of tonal colours
- His unique and utterly idiomatic & unique interpretations
Many critics have lauded Julian's ability to capture the very essence of the pieces that he plays. It would seem that most of us share their opinions. If you read any of the comments in the numerous YouTube videos of Julian performing you will see that it is his sensitivity and deep understanding of music that people have grown to love and admire. It doesn't matter if it's a 400 year old Renaissance lute piece or a modern work by William Walton or Benjamin Britten - Bream will always find a way to make it musical and accessible to an audience. His ability to capture the soul and beauty of a piece is unparalleled.
When I was at University I would often pull out a vinyl recording of Bream playing the famous 'Concierto de Aranjuez'. It was so inspirational for me and it helped to keep me plugging away when I was studying. I always marvelled (and still do) at his timbral variations.
Julian Bream plays both of Joaquin Rodrigo's Conciertos for guitar.
Conclusion
Unfortunately Bream stopped giving recitals in 2002 after more than 50 years of performing around the world. Thankfully his numerous recordings are still available for us to enjoy and love. If you have time I would strongly suggest heading across to YouTube to watch these two wonderful documentaries:
- My Life In Music. An enchanting 2 hour journey through Julian's life from his earliest days as a youth right through to the latter stages of a career spanning several decades.
- Guitarra - The Guitar In Spain. This is a 3 hour documentary about the history of the guitar and the influence that Spanish luthiers & composers have had on the instrument since the days of Torres.
Let your fingers fly!
How I Learned To Play The Guitar
Learning the guitar is a journey that lasts a lifetime.
My First Ever Guitar Lesson!
I was excited. My dear friend Andrew Little was already a decent guitarist and yet for some reason he was too shy to go to lessons with the new guitar teacher without a mate so he asked yours truly. I was 14 years old at the time and in my first year at high school. I loved music but I'd never learned any instrument except the recorder and in that I had no interest whatsoever. However, for some reason I thought I could enjoy learning the guitar. I rang my parents to ask if it was ok and they agreed. I thought to myself "How can I possibly learn guitar? I don't even own a guitar!" That particular problem was solved pretty quickly when another friend that was learning told me that I could use his guitar until I had my own.
Guitar Lesson Day....
The day of reckoning arrived. Andrew and I excused ourselves from our respective classes and headed across to the music room. We gingerly knocked on the practice room doors where our lessons were being held. After a brief moment we heard a voice from inside beckoning us to enter. We went in and met our teacher - Mr. Peter Thwaites. He was awesome right from the get go. He had long hair because every guitarist in the 80s had to have long hair, he had a quirky accent and always said "Shuzzbutt" or "Schweppes" and he knew how to teach.
My First Guitar Chord...
D! I was awful. To this day I'm still amazed that Peter didn't rise up and cast me into the gloomy pit of non-guitarists. My fingers were terrible. They disobeyed my every command and it seemed the sense of rhythm that I thought I had decided to forsake me during that brief 17 minute guitar lesson of doom. To make matters worse there was some black dots on paper that might has well have been Egyptian hieroglyphics written by Amun Ra himself. I later came to understand that that was classical guitar sheet music! My friend Andrew was already far too good for that page and he was learning from the next book...."Oh great" I though to myself. I'm stuck in here sharing a lesson with the best guitar player in our year. Andrew new all the basic chords and could even do a little solo with a pentatonic scale whilst I could scarcely recognise my own stubs flailing about on the fretboard like a fish flops around on a beach when you've landed it.
But I had Fun...
Despite the trauma of that initial guitar tutorial I understood that something inside me had been triggered. How little did I know that the first guitar lesson with Peter Thwaites and Andrew Little would shape and influence my life from that day to this.
Final Words...
Learn guitar! Nowadays with the advent of the internet learning classical guitar or any style of guitar be it electric guitar or acoustic guitar is easier and more accessible than ever. After I finished at that school I couldn't find another teacher in the area that we moved to so I had to resort to teaching myself. If that scenario had taken place 15 years later I would have been able to use YouTube to learn or I could have found a teacher online. Do yourself a favour and check out my online guitar lessons and all of the free videos that I have up on YouTube. They're an incredible resource that enables you to learn anywhere that has a guitar and an internet connection with a device.
Let your fingers fly!
Josh
Andres Segovia - Segovia at Los Olivos Documentary
Enter Andres Segovia - monster player + total badass.
Introduction
Today's post is about the most famous of all classical guitarists - Andres Segovia. I've been watching a few videos that are floating around on YouTube and despite his popularity and influence on almost all classical guitarists I discovered that I hadn't seen his documentary 'Segovia at Los Olivos'.
If you have a spare 50 minutes or so I strongly suggest that you sit yourself down and take the time to watch it. For a start you get to see the absolutely massive house that Segovia commissioned for himself and his wife to live in and you get to see a somewhat forlorn donkey meandering through an olive grove oh and you get to see & hear Segovia jamming a few tunes in the comfort of his own pad - that in itself is pretty awesome. For those of you that still have VHS players you can purchase a tape here instead of watching it on YouTube:
Watching this video triggered my memory of an Andres Segovia cassette tape that I would listen to many years ago.
The tape is long since gone but the memory of the extraordinary sound and musicianship lingers on. I do remember that the tape had the infamous Johann Sebastian Bach 'Chaconne in D-minor' on it. At that time I couldn't really appreciate the sheer domination of technique, memory, endurance, and musicality that anyone would need to possess to play this piece.
The Outspoken One
I must admit to moving away from listening to Andres Segovia recordings after hearing John Williams express his opinions about Segovia's domineering personality many years ago in his documentary 'The Seville Concert'. Segovia's masterclasses also seemed to show an intolerance of alternative interpretations of his transcriptions. I remember him mercilessly chastising a wonderful guitarist for playing one of his transcriptions of Bach's Fugue in E minor for using his own fingerings rather than Segovia's.
However, I find that I have put this to the side and returned to just kicking back and listening to some of the most beautiful classical guitar music that you're ever likely to hear. Los Olivos seems to show a different side to the larger-than-life legend.
Watching him petting a dog, enjoying a cup of tea with his wife, and telling his story of how his relationship with the famous Ramirez guitar makers began was awesome. Amazingly it was Segovia's first summer in 35 years that he spent at home just chillaxing rather than being out on the world stage in some far away exotic land mesmerising people with his personality and his playing.
Anyway that's all from me today. Time to start on the Chaconne... after a cup of tea! Now it's time for you to go and check it out but before you do I should mention that the opening piece is 'La maya de Goya' and I'll have a tutorial and classical guitar tabs and classical guitar sheet music available on the website very soon!