Music Appreciation: Julian Bream

I can't really call him an influence, but still, he has made a huge mark on my musical self.

I hesitate to call him an influence, because I barely can play a few etudes and a hacky version of Bach’s Boureé, but I have a LOT of his music in my collection.

Julian Bream, born in 1933 in London, was a titan in classical guitar, and his discography is deep and wide, chocked full of pretty much all the standards, but he also delved into Romantic era music, and my favorites are duets with the other titan in classical guitar, John Williams.

Classical guitar is quite different from anything else. The guitars are different, historically strung with catgut strings but today they use nylon and copper/silver plate wound nylon strings. Thus the tension on the neck is lower, and that leads to different acoustic properties in the top, and thus unique tonal qualities. Also, the neck is wider, there is no radius to the fretboard (i.e. it is like an aircraft carrier deck, F L A T).

Listening to classical guitar music immediately puts me into a quiet, reflective mood, able to contemplate the world, and I can feel the stress just ebb from my body.

I mean, listen to this, Sevilla by Isaac Albéniz, arranged by Bream:

The path to competency in classical guitar is not too difficult, compared to instruments like the Violin, or viola, but to get to this level of mastery is a lifetime of work.

I recall reading an interview of one of the greatest classical guitarists, Andres Segovia, in his 90’s, he was asked why he still played for 2-3 hours a day, and his response was perfect: “If I keep practicing, maybe one day I will be good”.

I will leave you with a duet of two of my favorites, Julian Bream, and John Williams¹:

1. No, not the composer of famous movie soundtracks…

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