Julian Bream 1933-2020 RIP

[bluestateprommer]

NYT obit for Julian Bream, by Allan Kozinn, with quite a few factoids that I didn't realize (and a great picture of Bream, Richard Rodney Bennett, and André Previn):

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/arts/music/julian-bream-dead.html

Had the privilege of seeing Bream once live, around 1997 or so.

[johnb]

I've been watching "Julian Bream A Musical Journey Through Spain Pt 1" on YouTube and I was struck by production values - so different to what we are now used to. At the start of the programme there is a very, very long sequence with no music, no speech, just a very quiet background. (I started wondering whether sound was working.)

Although I only intended to sample the programme I finished up watching the whole 1hr 44 minutes. It was good to see Paco Pena towards the end. His seemingly relaxed virtuoso flamenco playing contrasted with Bream's style.

After that programme ended another, the Bream Masterclass on Villa-Lobos Preludes, followed on - and that got me quite aeriated - I know the pieces very well indeed. The second student was very tense, seemed to have oldish bass strings on his guitar and, most importantly, he wasn't really projecting the music but seemed to be more playing for himself. (As much as I admire Bream I confess that I found his talking to the audience, or "playing" to the audience, somewhat off-putting.)