jae@hou2g.UUCP (J.ELKINS) (03/29/85)
Kottke. The first time I heard Kottke was on the radio in 1970, and my immediate reaction was that it was Fahey. They're both a product of the 60's popularizing of 'Travis-picking' as a musical medium in itself, and both have made some very nice music with it, although it can get tedious at times, with that OOOMPAH bassline on two pitches per chord. Your comments about Bream and his contemporaries were not as well thought out. Julian Bream's focus has always been one of technique applied to the control of tone rather than rapid execution. That explains the emulation so many guitarists hold for his playing. Your statement about him 'ranking pretty low in classic guitar technique when compared to the likes of John Williams, Parkening, etc..' is an error. I've taken master classes with quite a few highly respected guitarists, and turned pages at recitals for Bream, Segovia, Williams and God knows how many others, and the regard that other high-level guitarists have for Bream is unparalleled. To Rich Rosen: You said recently, 'My employer expects me to work once in a while!' I'm shocked, Rich. Isn't writing responses your work? Jay
elf@utcsri.UUCP (Eugene Fiume) (04/08/85)
[] Jay Elkins writes: > Julian Bream's focus has always been > one of technique applied to the control of tone rather than > rapid execution. That explains the emulation so many guitarists > hold for his playing. Your statement about him 'ranking pretty > low in classic guitar technique when compared to the likes > of John Williams, Parkening, etc..' is an error. I've > taken master classes with quite a few highly respected > guitarists, and turned pages at recitals for Bream, Segovia, > Williams and God knows how many others, and the regard > that other high-level guitarists have for Bream is > unparalleled. Yes, the first sentence more accurately (and elegantly) captures Bream than 'ranking pretty low...'. I really have to suspect that many high-level guitarists are only paying homage to Bream though. Their music betrays them, in my ears. On the other hand, it's all relative: just imagine the classical guitar world without the effect of Bream. My concern is that while most guitarists admire Bream, most are trading beautiful tone for stunning pyrotechnics, which is (rightfully) anathema to Bream. Although our messages are rather terribly out of sync, it's nice to discuss one of my musical passions, despite the fact that we're responding to each other's oldest messages. Does anyone out there know of classical guitarists who, like Bream, prefer to focus their technique on beautiful sound first? Two that I've been happy with in the past are Angel Romero and (occasionally) Turibio Santos. The latter has a (unfortunately deleted) album of Brasilian Choros out on Erato that is just wonderful. Eugene