I have to agree that Bream did not pioneer much. The real pioneers of the lute revival were Arnold Dolmetsch in England and Walter Gerwig in Germany.
Arnold Dolmetsch taught Diana Poulton (who founded the UK Lute Society) and Suzanne Bloch (who founded the LSA). He built his own lute in about 1890 and gave recitals on it for many years. Walter Gerwig was an active teacher in the period between the World Wars. He was the teacher of the late lamented Michael Schaeffer who played like this: https://youtu.be/ZRltMej-hSQ a musical generation before Hoppy Smith, Nigel North and Paul O'Dette came on the scene. Bream had the blazing chops on the guitar that got him in with record labels (RCA, etc.) that had wide distribution in Europe and North America and got him in with booking agencies that put him into halls with 2000 or 3000 seats. So he played instruments that worked in that context. He leveraged that exposure to popularize Elizabethan lute tunes, so there was some value to it. Daniel -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Jurgen Frenz Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2019 11:40 PM To: Franz Mechsner <franz.mechs...@gmx.de> Cc: Dan Winheld <dwinh...@lmi.net>; lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE] Re: Julian Bream on Lute Julian Bream was a vital part (I believe) of the lute revival 50 years ago by making the music public. On the downside of it he played guitar technique on it to the point of using singe strings on both the high G and D courses - it allowed him to play apoyando on the lute which is a big no-no. Hence his lute playing doesn't really sound like a lute. Also, at that time, it was common guitar technique to use sound differences to emphasize or mark formal sections by moving the right hand extremely close to the bridge, which creates a very metallic sharp sound. This has fallen out of favor on the guitar as well, I personally would qualify it as obnoxious, even more so on the lute. If you like it, you may listen to Konrad Ragossnigs lute recordings, he sounds very much like Bream did. Best Jurgen ---------------------------------- “Close your eyes. Fall in love. Stay there.” Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ On Wednesday, June 19, 2019 6:13 AM, Franz Mechsner <franz.mechs...@gmx.de> wrote: > Dear Dan, > > Julian Bream actually pioneered lute playing very early. Watch this > beautiful movie on him that makes me smile (lute things come somewhere > in the > middle): [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUdunh_wMCI > > Warm regards and best > Franz > > Dr. Franz Mechsner > Zum Kirschberg 40 > D-14806 Belzig OT Borne > +49(0)33841 441362 > franz.mechs...@gmx.de > > Gesendet: Mittwoch, 19. Juni 2019 um 01:07 Uhr > Von: "Dan Winheld" dwinh...@lmi.net > An: "Franz Mechsner" franz.mechs...@gmx.de, lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > Betreff: Re: [LUTE] Julian Bream on Lute Nope. Never heard of him. > On 6/18/2019 3:49 PM, Franz Mechsner wrote: > > > Dear collective wisdom, > > > > > > I just heard some pieces played by admired guitarist Julian Bram on > > the > > > lute. It seems to me he played kind of classical guitar style on the > > > lute. Strange, but It sounds wonderful to me, not only bold for the > > > time. Does anyone understand how he played the (maybe special) lute > > and > > > produced the wonderful sound on a lute admittedly built for him? > > > > > > Best and curious > > > Franz > > > > > > Dr. Franz Mechsner > > > Zum Kirschberg 40 > > > D-14806 Belzig OT Borne > > > +49(0)33841 441362 > > > franz.mechs...@gmx.de > > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > > [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > References > > 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUdunh_wMCI > 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
