Being a seriously aspiring guitarist in those days, Julian Bream's two
famous lute records "The Woods so Wild" and "Music from the Courts",
totally changed the paradigms for me. Virtually all the pieces in those
two records have become the canon for so many lutenists. I was lucky to
catch a performance he did at the Stockholm Concert Hall, (I can't
recall the exact year now, but mid 70s). Half the set was guitar and
half the set his Rubio "lute", (which projected very well). I was so
proud, when I managed to copy Mudarra's Fantasia X from the record and
play it convincingly, especially the dissonant passage, and also the
Washa Mesa. Whatever one thinks about his antics, looking at his
performances on video, his playing may look awkward. (I believe he was
mainly self taught), but there is no question about his dedication. Of
course, compared to John Williams, he didn't reach his level, but he
was a true musician and did enormously to propagate the guitar mainly,
but somehow also the lute, even though he was criticized for not being
HIP enough, (metal frets and all). I still believe the lute today,
would not have been the same without him, and the guitar certainly not.
Happy to live in an age, where with a click, I can recall the many
performances, interviews and documentaries he made, mainly on the
guitar but also a few rare ones on the lute. In later years, I think he
played on more HIP instruments and also on the baroque guitar. Que
descanses en paz Maestro!
On Fri, Aug 14, 2020 at 9:18 PM Rainer <[1]rads.bera_g...@t-online.de>
wrote:
[2]https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53777949
To get on or off this list see list information at
[3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. mailto:rads.bera_g...@t-online.de
2. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53777949
3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
