RIP Julian Bream

bacchanalian

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53777949

Fretwired

Sad .. I saw him play live a few times. Exceptional guitarist - loved his lute playing.

Jalapeno

He had to change technique mid-career to avoid losing use of his fretting hand.  Thumb behind the neck people !

RIP

west

What a talent , one of my fave pieces is william waltons bagatell no 2 , sublime . loved to see both him and john williams on tv in the 70's ... theres a great doco of julian bream and walton will try and link ...

stratman3142

Sad loss. A great musician.

earwighoney

Probably one of the greatest combinations of musician and luthier I can think with his good friend Jose Luis Romanillos.

I'm hardly an expert or great enthusiast of classical guitar but he's a musician's who repertoire I've been increasingly revisited in recent times, there's something magical about how he played the guitar.

RIP Julian Bream.

viz

west said:

What a talent , one of my fave pieces is william waltons bagatell no 2 , sublime . loved to see both him and john williams on tv in the 70's ... theres a great doco of julian bream and walton will try and link ...

A great example of a phrygian piece! Will add to the collection - thanks!

Nitefly

Lovely piece, that, @west - hadn't heard it before.

In 1970 I bought his collaboration with John Williams, the one that had "Pavane for a Dead Princess" and one of Falla's "Spanish Dances" - made me realise I was never going to be a classical guitarist!

RIP.

Jimbro66

An immensely talented and also very likeable man. He contributed hugely to the world of classical guitar and brought a lot of pleasure to his audiences.

A real loss. RIP.

west

Nitefly said:

Lovely piece, that, @west - hadn't heard it before.

In 1970 I bought his collaboration with John Williams, the one that had "Pavane for a Dead Princess" and one of Falla's "Spanish Dances" - made me realise I was never going to be a classical guitarist!

RIP.

yes very cool ! william walton wrote 5 ( bagatelle ) pieces for bream you can follow the others from the no 2 vid  if you fancy a listen    its just that that particular piece 2 is the one that stands out for me ...

players like bream and williams are in another league as classical performers , the attention to detail is amazing ...

ICBM

He was unquestionably the most perfect guitarist from a technical point of view I have ever heard - absolutely flawless in every way - and yet also supremely musical sounding. A very rare talent indeed.

RIP .

west

This is astonishing in technique and beauty , great way  to remember him ...

Redlester

Sad news. 

There’s a whole series of ‘Masterclass’ with him teaching younger players on BBC Iplayer right now. 

I don’t know much of his repertoire, but Nocturnes on a theme of John Dowland that Britten wrote for him has long been a favourite piece of music for me. 

sev112

Redlester said:

Sad news. 

There’s a whole series of ‘Masterclass’ with him teaching younger players on BBC Iplayer right now. 

I don’t know much of his repertoire, but Nocturnes on a theme of John Dowland that Britten wrote for him has long been a favourite piece of music for me. 

This ^ re the Masterclass

you watch the student and think, “very good”, and then you listen to Julian’s critique and think “what a git” but then he shows why, and you think “wow”!   To me, he is the exponent of performance and of making his instrument sing, rather than playing the notes .

RIP

rogd

RIP Julian. Wonderful musician.
I can not recall seeing him ever reading from a score whilst playing.

beed84

Julian Bream was something else. Might have to revisit those BBC Masterclasses in tribute, for inspiration, and just to remind myself what a great player he was. RIP JB.

ToneControl

my favourite when I was young, far more passion than other players

ToneControl

Jalapeno said:

He had to change technique mid-career to avoid losing use of his fretting hand.  Thumb behind the neck people !

RIP

I never heard of this
Please tell me more

I did find this: https://classicalguitarmagazine.com/julian-bream-accident-changed-how-maestro-played-guitar-injuries-recovery-guitar/

NorthernGooner

As well as being a great player I always thought Bream was a breath of fresh air in the classical music world 
which like most art forms can be over populated with prima donnas and big egos. Battersea boy with no airs or graces,
 never lost his South London accent, which raised a few eyebrows, liked a glass of wine and with an eye for a pretty girl.
There was a biography some years ago after he'd stopped public performing which was fascinating. 'A life on the road' by Tony Palmer. Hard to get hold of now. In it he went into some detail about his arm injury which he'd smashed on a wall driving an open topped sports car after a good lunch!
His thoughts on guitars was also fascinating.  Bearing in mind that he was was commenting on guitars to give live performances with, he was very much of the opinion that lightly built classical guitars had a performing life and then after 30 years or so lost their projecting power for concert halls.  When he commissioned a guitar from a builder he reckoned it took him 10 years to play it in, it was good then for performing for 20-30- years , and then would lose it's projection though he would still use it for recording etc.  Very much the same thoughts as James Taylor  gave in his interview about acoustic steel string guitars.  A fascinating and talented man.