HTS THT JULIAN BREAM PHOTOGRAPHIC TRIBUTE ~ton Reflections on Jul (60th Birthday — Grafiamn Wace Solo Guitar Music of Joaquin Rodrigo (Part 11) — Graham Wade Ruggero Chiesa ~ Obituary u— edited by Neil Smith Julian Bream Photographic Tribute Segovia - A Centenary Celebration (Part 7) — Graham Wade Society News The Guitar in IheroAmerica (Part $) ~ Rico Siover Marcos Letters from the Editor Classical Guitar Teachers Classical Guitar Societies Features Editor: Colin Cooper 2 Chris Kilvington Neil Smith Maurice J. Summerfield se Wassily Saba History Editor: Harvey Hope Correspondence Editor: Liz Beeson Contributors: Roy Brewer, Gordon Crosskey, Chris Dell, Zbigniow Dubiella, Paul Fowies, Paul Gregory. John Huber, Ivor Mairants. Marcos, Forge Morel, Matanya Ophee, David Russell, Rico Stover, Maurice J Summerticld, Graham Wade. Reviewers: John Arran, Peter Batchelar, Jane Bentley. Donald Bousted Raymond Burley, Sarah Clarke, Colin Cooper, Rebecca Crosby. Luke Dunlea, Lorraine Eastwood, Paul Fowles, Stephen Goss, Nicola Hall Sandra Hambleton, Harvey Hope, Irina Kircher, Oyvind Lyslo, Steve Marsh, Emma Martinez, Michael McGeary, Joe MeGowan, Alfonse Montes, Joe Nickerson, David Norton, Therese Wassily Saba, Shuko hibata, Chris Susans, Neil Smith, Paul Thomas, Graham Wade. Andy Watt, Advertisements: Chris Lackeniby ins, but connot accept responsbilis for dem. Please enclose a prepard la pe if sow san our work reamed ‘th Amer A tig Anh Pee ‘wit Prise) COLDEN OFFSET LIMITED ole 08h Bond Handing stg. Nencee pon Tye NEWT \ssNonmneuy ® ASHLEY MARK PUBLISIIING COMPANY ‘Brea Ly 4 SLASSIbAL GUYER SENDS JULIAN BREAM BEST WISHES ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 60th BIRTHDAY‘THE GUITAR IS THE MUSIC OF THE STREETS JULIAN BREAM IN CONVERSATION WITH CHRIS IT’S a gorgeous June day in deepest Wiltshire; the unspoilt meadows are full of bustercups, there’s barely @ sound bar the hum of insects and the song of the occasional bird. The pace is slow going on slower. It feels good. Ihave come to interview Julian Bream at his home far the time of his 60th birthday, but I don't really want an T just hope he'll taik freely and that's how it uerned out to be, Both at the time interview as such, ‘and afterwards I thought how much secondary meaning could be read into many of his comments, bur F've refrained from unsubily inverposing my opinions here. 1 could be wrong, after all. And, besides, so much more fun for everyone 10 form his own opinion uninfluenced. The ‘greeting was warm, and we were talking immedi CK: Ill show you this one 0 start us off. This is from ant interview you did with Lance Bosman for Gl in 1985, and you said “guitar music is largely not intellectual Tim very interested in that today. Afier all, you are regarded as a chanipion of quality new music and of its greatest interpreters. What did you mean by that, or what might you have meant, and how would you reflect on that now? IB: About 40 years ago I met the famous Italian composer Gian Francesco Malipiero, had an introduction to him, and played for him on both the lute and the guitar. He said: “You know, they're two very different instruments, the lute and the guitar; the lute is music from the spheres and the guitar is the music of the streets.’ In a sense that conveys exactly what I meant when I said that a lot of guitar music is not intellectual; the guitar is an earthy, sensuous, and ravishingly beautiful sound in the right hands, The music, or the quality of the music, is nearly always on the slight side, it doesn’t have any grave intellectual import. I feel the guitar is an instrument of the senses: it has a great charm, and it has half a dozen pieces which could be said to be great, probably not half a dozen even, And the rest of its repertoire is, on the whole, rather lightweight, But that doesn't mean that a fine player cannot invest that music with great meaning. ‘And in a sense it’s more of a challenge to play the guitar repertory than that of the piano. It a paradoxical challenge. Does it bring out something special in the performer? ‘Yes. I think it was well summed up by Edgar Allan Poe in his short story, The Fall of the House of Usher. The anti-hero is a guitarist, and the gist of the idea as it affected Poe was that although the range of the instrument was not great, because of those very limitations there was a certain tension created in the performances which made them magical. He said it much more beautifully than that, of course But thar’s the message? That’s the message. The constraints and discipline KILVIN fui Bream be creative as well as sometimes being harmful to the creative process. You see, (0 play a dozen notes on the guitar beautifully — any notes ~ it can evoke such expressiveness. But its how you play those notes which is important. And how you link those notes, and how you use the diminuendos of the plucked string that in itself creates a myriad of silences; but its those silences and the tensions between the impact of the next note it creates. That is important ~ that is the poetry Why does one get it right, so close to being perfect sonierimes, and not at others? That's true, isn't? Yes, it’s ue, but that’s the charm of public performance, that it’s never the same. Even the instrument itself, because the density of wood is so fine compared to that of a violin for example. IY very finely calibrated, always subject to the prevailing conditions of the air, the humidity, the dryness and so on. Sometimes in a concert hall where is too humid the instrument simply won't sing as you want it to, And when it’s very dry the guitar can be rather shrill and un-giving. And your nails of course, their condition and length, and the State of your strings, whether they're brand new or three months old, . should they have been changed (much laughter). Then the hall itselt and its acoustic, which obviously very much affects the way you play. T always play a little faster in a dry acoustic, and I think that most people do, because you've got no assistance ufrom the hall to help the notes sustain and thereby achieve the phrasing as you want to present it, Another consideration, and a most important one, is the public. When you go to a concert there's such a wonderful ~ or can be, shall we say ~ such a wonderful frequency of “To play half a dozen notes on the guitar beautifully — any notes - can evoke such expressiveness. But it’s how you play those notes which is important” feeling amongst most of the people, and that really feeds back to the performer. And if people are attentive and concentrating and willing (0 let themselves go into the music, then I think certain things can happen in a recital which make it a memorable, or at least a pleasurable, event. This business about the audience ~ why should it not always be excellent? Every audience has surely come to be entertained or involved? Well, I just wonder about that, When I was a student 1 used {0 go to concerts in London and they weren't hugely advertised as concerts are today. There was pethaps a little notice on a Wednesday in the Times ot the Telegraph, but you had to know where to look, But the fact that you had to search and hunt, make an effort ‘meant that you weren’ just some ordinary old concert: goer. And that is already a wonderful beginning from the point of view of the public. Nowadays pramoters want to gel as many egalitariun bums on seats as possible, because itis largely an economic exercise for them. And so the great thing is 10 find new audiences, and that comes about through advertising, the media, and so forth. They bring in people who wouldn't normally have gone to concerts 40) years ago. They think, “Hello, T saw him on the box. pethaps it might be a nice idea to go to his concert.” So they go. You get people coming out of curiosity more than anything else. And sponsorship ... [Il give you a typical example of a bit of dead wood in the audience. Nowadays. nearly all my concerts are sponsored, like the one the other in Bath sponsored by the gas company. They top employees tickets, with a special bar lid on for themselves and their friends ~ then they hear the concert and have a slap-up dinner somewhere afterwards, So its really just an outing for the company. and people are not going to say no to a trip to Bath, with a free concert and a free meal thrown in, Its very hard to get through to dead wood. And in a sense, if you succeed, you've actually achieved something! That's ihe problem with this modern sponsorship: admirable when it's working: but, finally it doesn’t always help, What do you think would be the perfect audience, if such a thing could exist fs that a silly question? No, it ist ~ although I don' think anything is perfect London can produce a very good audience, the Wigmore for example. The one year I couldn't use the Wigmore | went to the Elizabeth, a cold and rather austere hall but not a bad acoustic. And I had one of the best audiences I ever had. Yet the Wigmore is the ideal hall for the guitar; when T was 2 kid just after the war all the great artists played there, I mean the very greatest! ‘That was the hall, with just 500 seats, Who were they? Fournier, all his London cello recitals were given there. There was Victoria de los Angeles, all her early song recitals, Rubinstein . .. they were all that calibre of artist. To go there and hear them was a real treat, it was the perfect place. And the Segovia evenings there were just as magical! Whereas when he moved across the river to the South Bank into that very dry, large hall, 1 felt it was only half a musical experience. So I think that halls are very important as far as the quality of audience oes. How do you go about choosing a new piece ~ and what are the processes for you between that and performing it? Quite a procedure An interesting procedure. These days you're asked for your programme maybe a year ahead, whereas before it ‘was a couple of months. People want to get everything organised early and I find that rather sad. I've just been siving my programmes for next May, yet now [have the summer pretty much off to learn things and make records. F'Il probably learn something that I'd like to play in my next season's concerts, but really Vm stuck. You can't change? Well, I do occasionally, but not much. And then my programmes do have a shape, a typical rather conventional shape. T play what I really like to play and if nobody likes it well, they can go home. To be able to take that attitude, well, at the age of 60) I feel you've earned that prerogative. So, yes, I only play what I like, music that stimulates me. And then I never. ever, get bored with pieces. But I do rest them, pethaps for a number of years, and then pick them up again, and I see totally new things. I'm doing that now with Lennox Berkeley's Sonatina. I took it on tour with me recently ~ Ido that, look at other music, as assiduously I'm not always practising my programme in order to keep a sense of freshness ~ and I found that the old concept I had of the piece wasn't bad but that T just didn’t bring out all the beauties which I now fee! in the composition. I can tell by the fingerings I used. I'S a very well-made piece. and charming music. 1 remember Britten once saying ~ and he never had a good word for any other composer. well maybe not entirely, but he was very critical of English composers in particular— “That is very nearly a great piece’ And coming from him you can be sure it’s a damn good piece anyway To what extent is your interpretation planned in your dynamic and tonal phrasing, and tempo, and to what extent i it intitive on the night? Well, tempo is very spontaneous because as I mentioned earlier it is, among other things. to do with the acoustics and how you feel. You know, its the old heart that sets the rhythm, Tone colour which, as youknow. I use rather a lot, well, I sort of work it out but not always. Sometimes I enjoy experimenting or reversing the colours, a passage taken near the bridge 1 ‘might try beyond the soundhole and so forth. And that keeps ome on one’s toes. Is that purely for the possibility of discovery? Yes. And for fun. So that’s what happens. Now, dynamics are largely pre-arranged; but the intensities of those dynamics are not, And how does that happen? According to the hall and the audience. If the audience is really concentrating you make them concentrate even more — well, you don’t make them, you just do, it happens. Sometimes you can play so, quietly, perhaps a tiny gentle artificial harmonic, but if you can get it to ring exquisitely with some left hand ‘vibrato added it just has a certain magic. If the sound, is good . .. such an important thing about the carrying power of the guitar is the actual sound you make on it. If the sound has a real centre, is really focused, then that sound really carries through the ait. It doesn’t matter about decibels; it gets there. and if the sound is not well focused, a bit angular or thin, that will often not register so much with people. It won't travel. | experiment a great deal when I'm performing, always trying to get the instrument to ring a bit more or to have a little bit more incision in the articulation, I'm always trying things and sometimes I fall flat on my face. But its worth a try. Tightrope walking? Yeah, a little bit. But audiences like that, The ones that, know, they know what you're doing and they're saying "No, no, he’s not going to get away with that one.” And, you do or you don't. Ic keeps it live, doesn’t it? ‘That's it! { was doing a concert recently somewhere in Germany. and finished with Falla’s Miller's Dance. And they're very serious in Germany. That fantastic last A minor chord right at the top of the instrument, T missed, it by a semitone! And the whole audience collapsed with laughter, I was so annoyed with myself, but [ have to say the audience enjoyed that, A complete semitone except, of course, for the open A, the rest was A flat minor . . . the very last chord of the concert, The audience just fell apart What else could they do? There was no point in being polite about it I just shrugged my arms and walked off. I can see that it was amusing and I was grateful that they laughed, but for me it wrecked the whole evening, 1 hhave to say. I felt I'd let the composer down. But that does happen from time to time, and it livens things up a bit! I'm always looking for the very best out of every phrase, Do you think you're changing? At the moment I sense I'm improving, somehow. It's a wonderful feeling. Something has happened. I'm 4 enjoying the whole business of making music so much now —T mean, I always have, but in some ways even more now. As you get older, and this is not just to do with music, you begin to get rid of things which are a waste of time, You say ‘I don't want to do his’, or ‘i'm getting rid of har’. | want to simplify life, Because Since the beginning of time life has got more complicated, and there comes a time when you want to concentrate on what's truly worthwhile. And all the “I only play what I like, music that stimulates me. And then I never, ever, get bored with pieces” rest of the stuff ~ chuck it! I've cut out a lot of the ‘waste of energy and time, You're not going to live for ever, you know time’s limited, you suddenly realise that i€ goes at a hell of a lick. It seems only yesterday that 1 was 50... so the great thing is to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff. Do you do exactly what you want to do? Tve always been idealistic about music. I suppose. One of the things I remember as a student at the College alter the war was that we Were an idealistic generation. Tewas a rough time coming through the war. but we had ideals. And I miss that now. Ideals about what kind of thing? Social, musical... ? Well. if you were in music, then in music. And other things too. of course. There weren't so many people doing things: there weren't so many people. period. And there was space, and there wasn't this sort of competition and this sort of elbowing. You're talking about the musical world? You bet — but also the world in general. There weren't the pressures, particularly on young people. Today they race into these competitions and if they win maybe get a prize of half a dozen concerts and a recording contract, if they're lucky. That's a lot of pressure on a young person. My generation, we sort of matured into our profession slowly, and I think we were very lucky to be able to do that, Now its very different. I's the commercialisation of life and the competition of it all which has caused a lot of unhappiness for people in general Do you think there's any value in music competitions? I think they can sort out the good players. Let's face it, in the old Communist ethic there was no such thing as competition, everybody had the same. But the Russians also had their music competitions, so they had to have something (0 sort out the great, from the not so great. Even the Bolshevik Russians had that. They treat music very seriously, it’s a genuine part of their system of education. Look whatwonderful artists come out of Russia ~ and they're trained at a very early age. It’s terrific, it’s wonderful. They become so deeply involved with the music itself “7m always looking for the very best out of every phrase” Like an actor can become his role, should a musician attempt to become the music, or maybe the composer? One should think about the music deeply without the instrument sometimes, with only the score, We must certainly find out a bit about the composer and the environment in which he worked, it all helps. The important thing for a performing musician is that he must be the servant of the composer. And that would be very difficult if you've got a big ego. ff you think you're just the greatest, Those people tend not to be the best interpreters, although they can be flamboyantly brilliant and good value. But as see it, one’s role is in the service of the music. And then ta be able to convey that music in such a way that it’s wholly convincing, utterly and totally convincing, Bo Absolucely unique for thar occasion? ‘Yes, For that very moment it has to be nothing less than completely convincing. And that is a very reat responsibility for a performer to bear in mind, What do you actually think about when you're away from the guitar and working with the score? The shape of the piece, and sometimes the fingering. It's getting to know the first note so that paradoxically you can almost hear the last note, so you can feel the whole sweep of it. I's hard to achieve. Two works of Bach ideally employ that idea, both in variation form: the Goldberg and the Chaconne, And then you g0 through an experience which transcends time, I use the word paradoxical because the transcendental quality of the music means that itis always stretching out, and yet the relationship between the variations always brings it back, So you've got this inhale/exhale situation, and it’s that tension which can be so moving and so wonderful in, a variation piece of that quality. Much best to look at, that sort of thing away from the instrument. fext_ month: How far can music express what wards can't? What are ‘wrong’ notes? Why is it so hard to compose beautiful music now? In Part 2, Chris Kilvington continues his conversation with Julian Bream, whose 60th birthday was celebrared on 15 July Romantic Guitar Peando Sor (1779839) $14.30 (USA $25.00) Price includes post and packing. Available now from ASHLEY MARK PUBLISHING COMPANY Olsover House, 43 Sackville Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 STA, United Kingdom. 6REFLECTIONS ON JULIAN BREAM’S 60th BIRTHDA’ By GRAHAM WADE THE first Julian Bream recital I ever attended took place on 10 November 1957, in the Arts Theatre, Cambridge. The programme was as follows: Air, Rondeau, Hornpipe Purcell Overture Weiss Partita in A minor JS. Bach (Prelude - Fugue ~ Sarabande ~ Gigue) Two Sonatas Cimarosa Variations Op. 9 (Interval) Garrotin-Soleares Turina Sonatina Berkeley Cancion-Campo Ponce Leyenda Albéniz, At that time, for most of the public (even those who played the guitar), the repertoire, apart from that of J S. Bach, was often quite unfamiliar. One listened with sense of joyous discovery and delicious freshness to these pieces. With hindsight it becomes apparent that Julian Bream’s programme on that occasion contained the acorns of development which would mature into the oaks of international achievement. Transcriptions, music of Bach. guitar works from the 19th century Spanish musie, and the repertoire written especially for him, were all there. But the entire landscape would he infinitely deepened, expanded, and brought to ultimate fruition over the years to come. But there was a lot more to it than just the matter of the repertoire chosen. Equally significant was the presence of a unique musical intelligence and sensibility shaping each phrase and defining the idemtity of each piece. The notes were placed with a quality of response which moved the audience in a magical and mysterious way, The concert was a statement of experience. beauty and a feeling so intense that it could cut like a knife and induce a poignant anguish in the listener, In particular the quality of sound was a unique cantabile utterance, This was Bream’s gift to the world ~ a quality of emotion and feeling within the playing which could wound with its sweetness and dazzle with its virtuosity In 1954, with Bream barely 21, the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians devoted 22 tines to him. This, considering that Segovia, 40 years older, received 24 lines, was a remarkable accolade: BREAM, Julian (Alexander) (born London, 15 July, 1933) English guitarist and lutenist ... After his first public appearance as a guitarist at the age of twelve, at which he astonished his audience by his precocious brilliance and musicality, he received advice and encouragement from Segovia, and since dren he has become well known as a performer on the guitar and lute and has both broadcast and appeared on television . .. He has transcribed numerous works from lute tablature and performed Is ‘Brean, 19 many of the keyboard compositions of Frescobaldi, Purcell, Bach and Rameau arranged for himself for the guitar and tute. By the time I first heard bim in concert in 1957 Julian Bream was profoundly mature in both life and art Music in his hands signified expressiveness, commitment, the power to move to tears, the capacity to draw upon a seemingly inexhaustible well of experience, of life lived to the full Behind the playing was a remarkable range of experience already and an amazing career of over a decade had already been achieved, Bream was entirely equipped in performance in a whole array of recitals, broadcasts, film and recordings. By 1957 he had played recitals regularly with one of the most renowned of British musical celebrities, Peter Pears. Already a number of composers, including, Dodgson, Brindle and Berkeley, had written works for him, He had performed music for at least two films Sarabande for Dead Lovers (1948) and Chase a Crooked Shadow (1957) ~ had mastered the lute and the greatest living British composer, Benjamin Britten had written Songs from the Chinese (1957) for the Pears and Bream duo, By the age of 24 Bream had broadcast on more occasions than most guitarists would be able to do in several lifetimes, His early transcriptions had been published, He had performed frequently with leadingorchestras and received rave reviews from the leading newspapers. (On February 10, 1956, for example, The Times had commented on Mr Julian Bream’ ‘elean: and artistry’ during @ performance of Concierto de Aranjuez at the Festival Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Anatole Fistoulari). Bream had made no less than five LPs. Already he had ,en hundreds of concerts, ete, etc. By any normal standards these achievements were prodigious. Yet journeys are measured by the distance travelled, and we can now see that Julian Bream still had an immense way to go at that time before he arrived at his true destination. The decisive recording, contract with RCA was just round the corner and in 1959 his recording career began with this company. In 1964 Julian Bream became the first guitarist to be awarded the OBE. By the 1960s he was indeed at the top of his profession, performing at the most prestigious venues. a veteran of the great concert halls of the world’s capitals and an inveterate global traveller on behalf of the guitar The way forward was unremitting work and endless self-development. In the 1960s the guitar was in danger of being dominated by the Segovian repertoire. Julian Bream, having recorded a considerable amount of this, repertoire by the time he moved to RCA from the Westminster recording company, had many trails to blaze. The inclusion of the lute in his zone of virtuosity gave him virtually two careers to follow, In The Gramophone in 1968 he described the duality of his calling as. ‘the guitar is my job, the lute is my hobby and suppose you could say that I'm more interested in my. hobby than my job.” 1 is often forgotten how high a proportion of Bream’s recordings consists of lute music. In this area he soon acquired a unique reputation, making, a lute recital fascinating and life enhancing. Dowland now became alive and vibrant. Tn reviewing Julian Bream Plays Dowland (Westminster XWN 18249) (1957) in August 1960. The Gramophone exclaimed: The reason why this dise is pleasing is first and foremost because of Bream’ almost uncanny ability 10 {grasp the essence of the music he is playing... This dise does more than a book for it shows that Dowland is no musty historical figure but a composer of first-rate importance and one of the greatest figures in Elizabethan and Jacobean times. ‘This was an enormous stride forward. and the public flocked to hear Bream’ lute. This area also integrated with his pride in English music. so long neglected or despised, The Elizabethan Age was now com- memorated in living art, and a sure link was established between the era of Dowland and the era of Bream. The foundation of the Bream Consort in 1960 was another unique step forward in the enjoyable understanding of Elizabethan music. By 1963 Bream had recorded his own definitive interpretations from Segovia's repertoire. These included Bach's. Chaconne, Frescobaldi’s | La Frescobalda Variations, Sonata in E minor, KI by Domenico Scarlatti, various Sor Studies, and selected works from Turina, Falla, Morena Torroba, Albéniz, ete. CONCERT CLASSIC GUITAR STRINGS (CLEAR OVMETROU NYLON THEBLES ‘SILVER PLATED WOUND BASSES ‘ONE SET M800 (8), MARQUIS CLASSICS A quality performance from an extraordinary string. THE MARTIN GUITAR COMPANY Guitar Makers Since 1833 Nazareth. Pennsylvania 18064 Continued from page # be desired. If nothing else — and actually there is a great deal else concerned with tone, dynamics. phrasing and so forth — these two (fundamental) qualities can be improved dramatically with the guitar orchestra and a leader who is prepared to patiently explain and demonstrate rhythmic difficulties. The music is often single lines and is not usually technically awkward; the essence of all this work is musicality. Therefore it is perfectly possible to give full concentration to the element in hand — the rhythmic clement, So often in solo work this is compounded by technical problems as well, and the player ends up fighting the music — and getting it wrong or at best sounding uneasy, But in the guitar orchestra, with a guiding hand, the comfort of playing with others, and the absolute necessity of good tempo, the level of understanding can increase greatly, Because this is what it is — understanding, not technique. Fach player can increase his rhythmic Vocabulary so that looking at a group of notes of various values can actually mean something coherent instead of seeming a completely incomprehensible mess. If anyone were to say this was educational training, Pd happily agree, ‘One other paint. I hope the detractors of the guitar, orchestra, in addition to listening in the future to any one of the several permanent groups. have alrcady plenty of experience of hearing some amateur string ensembles, or symphony orchestras. Appalling intonation, complete lack of sensitive balance, rotten material. it can all be there too. All groups, guitar or otherwise, have to choose their repertoire wisely and work hard at detail; otherwise, yes. its a waste of time: So T hope those playing in ensemble this summer enjoy the experience and look to the possibility of carrying it on afterwards CHRIS KILVINGTONBream achieved a unique a number of recorded firsts such as the first all-Bach album (Westminster XWN 18428) (1957) (withthe first guitar recording of Prelude, Fugue and Allegro), the first complete recordings of Villa-Lobos’s Preludes, (Westminster XWN 18137) (1956), and the premiere recording of Concerto in A by Giuliani (RCA RB 16252) (1960). Bream was also the first to issue a recording of a live lute recital (RCA RB (66086) (1963), and two complete Bach Lute Suites (RCA, RB 6684) (1964). (Bream was in fact the first guitarist to record a complete lute suite ~ previous guitarists merely recorded separate movements). Bream pushed the guitar beyond the limits of Segovia’ own repertoire at the same time as he conquered the traditional repertoire. Steadily he amassed and recorded the new wave of compositions dedicated to him, bringing novel dimensions to the concepts of the repertoire These new works in the early years included Berkeley's Sonatina, Arnold's Guitar Concerto, Britten’s Nocturna, and Songs from the Chinese, Walton’ song eycle, Anon in Love, ete. Of these the most significant atthe time was Britten's Nocturnal, which propelled the guitar to a unique prominence in the area of contemporary expressiveness. This masterpiece of the guitar brought in not only a variety of new techniques but the supreme manifestation of the new and adventurous language available for the solo guitar. The Nocturnal became a kind of challenge which recitalists. eminent composers and the public would respond to, setting new standards of inspiration and possibility The 20h Century Guitar album of 1966 (RCA SB (6723) became the inspiration of the young and changed attitudes towards the new in a radical way. The first When Innovation Really Means Improvement Savarez Alliance RE compote 1 bases provide a balances fl sound, mache fis af he pastes. Allince strings’ Raymond Burley As for Soraee Aline a your sual aso eh Stentor Music Co Ltd Ret ene Eran (epee En recording of Britten's Nocturnal, Smith Brindle’s El Polifemo de Oro (which Bream had played in the 1950s), Henze’s enigmatic Drei Tentos, and Frank Martin Quatre Pieces Bréve (1933), topped off by two Villa-Lobos Studies, altered the perception of the younger generation of players. The process was followed up seven years later with Julian Bream 70s, with Richard Rodney Bennett's Guitar Concerto Rawsthorne’s Elegy, Walton's Five Bagatelles, and Berkeley's Theme and Variations The dislodgement of the domination of the Segovian empire was fully achieved during this period between 1966 and 1973. This was a pioneering period during which the vocabulary of the guitar recital was utterly modified and the guitar, instead of looking back to the late Spanish romanticism of the 1920s, now entered the world of the contemporary composers The patterns of development during these years and afterwards are extremely complex. For Bream also changed our awareness of other composers in his own inimitable way. It was Bream who first delved into Giuliani's Rossiniane and Grand Overture, into Sor’s Fantasias and Sonatas and hitherto obscure extended works of Aguado. But over the last 20 years Bream has given us massive interpretations of the works of Villa-Lobos. Albéniz and Granados, regular re-recordings of Concierto de Aranjuez and a revival of Rodrigo’s Tres piezas espafiolas. The contemporary works dedicated to him from Tippett, Maxwell Davies, Brouwer, Takemitsu, etc, continue to proliferate, From the late 19608 onwards very many of Bream’s transcriptions have been published, opening a treasure trove of new concepts of editing and fingering, for all his texts are rich in detail On the occasion of Julian Bream’s 60th birthday we can take stock, give thanks and marvel at the prolific creativity of the man, his energy, his boundless enthusiasm and commitment, and the of vigorous and abundant life which emanates from him, We can listen to his recordings and chart the inexorable progress and patterns of his genius developing through the years an amazing revelation of so many things we had never previously thought possible in terms of either lute or guitar. The general public throughout the world has a great love of him and his art, while the cognoscenti of the international guitar community are practically speechless with admiration as they search for further superlatives. For in a shifting, treacherous age, Julian Bream represents a total integrity which has never been compromised. His art has put forward at all times the purest and finest spiritual values of the European ‘musical tradition © Graham Wade, 1993 Robert Russell Luthier 17 Pembroke Roa Sie Telephone: (0272)