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10 Oct 08 - 03:26 PM (#2462378) Subject: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: greg stephens Not folk, but quite a guitar hero in the 60's folk revival nonetheless. Great Dowland lutenist too. One hour documentary on BBC4, UK, 9-10PM. |
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10 Oct 08 - 03:46 PM (#2462402) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: GUEST,Tunesmith Bream, of course, was a big Django fan, and has a few folk connentions. I remember hearing about Julian backing Carolyn Hester singing Summertime back in the 60s. |
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10 Oct 08 - 04:22 PM (#2462446) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: The Borchester Echo Ta, Greg. Just seen your post and I'm looking at the second half now. Thank deity of choice for the iPlayer so I can catch up on the rest. |
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10 Oct 08 - 05:12 PM (#2462505) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: greg stephens That Britten piece was a total cacophony. A child of three could have written it, in the unlikely event of a child of three wanting to. |
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11 Oct 08 - 03:16 PM (#2463136) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: GUEST,A.Player 'That Britten piece was a total cacophony' Not half,fancy devoting so much of the prog.to it,but then, maybe we ought to hear it again in case we missed something. I just wonder how much B.Britten knew about false harmonics and all the other tricks of the trade that were employed. Still,you have to admire Bream for remembering such a rambling piece- apparently without dots. Cheers AP |
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12 Oct 08 - 06:06 AM (#2463503) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: Mick Pearce (MCP) The programme doesn't seem to be on iPlayer so I can't check this, but if the Britten piece was for solo guitar, that will have been the Nocturnal. Written in 1964 it's one of the pinnacles of late 20C classical guitar. The piece is a set of variations on Dowland's Come, Heavy Sleep, finishing of with a reworking of the theme, rather than starting with it. From the cacophony description it was probably the Passacaglia, which is relatively long and rambling, based on a short descending motif from the Dowland song. The piece does have some more lyrical sections - the opening variation for instance, and the final movement which is a harmonisation the Dowland song is particularly beautiful. (The footage of him playing the Passacaglia appears on the Music On Earth video of Julian Bream - My Life in Music. The video is well worth getting if you are interested in his life and playing. The same people also did a wonderful video on the life of Stephane Grappelli - A Life In The Jazz Century.) Mick (hoping, after all that, that it was the Nocturnal!). |
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12 Oct 08 - 06:30 AM (#2463512) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: Big Al Whittle Strangely enough I always associate Bream with a willingness to flog his bollocks off on demanding contemporary classical music pieces that most of us would find difficult to listen to. His dedication is amazing to this form of music. I think you have to grant that there must be great substance in these works. Otherwise why would a great artist like Bream be attracted to them. Its a strange contrast - this avuncular, rather jolly man and his fascination with reletlessly challenging music. |
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12 Oct 08 - 07:03 AM (#2463524) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: greg stephens I was being slightly facetious with the cacophony/child of three remarks. I was conscious of feeling some thing like wee little drummer....that Bream is such a musician, he must see something in it. But I couldn't! My loss, obviously. Bream playing of Dowland has always been sublime. Bream the bloke always seemed the opposite of sublime, the way the music poured out of him was wondrous. |
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12 Oct 08 - 08:26 AM (#2463553) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: Mick Pearce (MCP) As wld says, Bream was a relentless champion of contemporary works, though even he had his limit. In A Life On The Road he describes how he went on holiday with the score for a new guitar concerto, but after two weeks of looking at it decided he couldn't make head nor tail of what the composer was up to and that life was too short to continue looking! I might also mention that by comparison with some later works for the guitar, the Nocturnal is quite tame. (I remember reading a review of a concert of modern guitar music that started with something like when the concert opening warm up piece was Ginastera's Op.47 Sonata (another notorious piece from the late 20th C repertoire - MCP) I could tell we were in for a hard evening!) Mick |
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12 Oct 08 - 09:16 AM (#2463572) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: Murray MacLeod I just wish they had shown a clip which I saw of Bream playing jazz, many years ago. He swung like the clappers, as I recall. It wasn't the clip of him playing Nuages with Grapelli, btw, which they did show, and which I enjoyed as well. I am thinking of a much more up-tempo number, the name of which I cannot recall. Overall, an excellent show imo. |
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12 Oct 08 - 11:53 AM (#2463670) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: G-Force Well, I enjoyed it all, even the 'Nocturnal' (yes it was that). The hymn-like bit at the end of the Nocturnal was indeed beautiful but the stuff before wsn't too challenging. I found it quite guitaristic. |
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13 Oct 08 - 06:12 AM (#2464229) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: Roger the Skiffler To paraphrase Frankie Howerd*: Julian Bream's a good little turn; no Seasick Steve but a good little turn. RtS *("Maria Callas....she's no Alma Cogan; but a good little turn") |
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13 Oct 08 - 06:36 AM (#2464247) Subject: RE: Julian Bream on BBC4 tonight(Oct 10) From: Bryn Pugh I'm glad it wasn't just me . . . I thought either me ears or the gawping-box had gone to pot. I am a great fan of JBs Lutening, and I rate his version of the Paganini Concerto in A far above that of John Williams. |