{"id":219203,"date":"2019-09-26T17:35:13","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T15:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/219203\/soul-spain-watch-guitarist-julian-bream-play-beautiful-suite-espanola\/"},"modified":"2019-09-26T17:35:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T15:35:13","slug":"soul-spain-watch-guitarist-julian-bream-play-beautiful-suite-espanola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/news-headlines\/2019\/09\/26\/soul-spain-watch-guitarist-julian-bream-play-beautiful-suite-espanola\/","title":{"rendered":"The soul of Spain \u2013 Watch guitarist Julian Bream play the superb <em>Suite espa\u00f1ola<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>The brilliance of Bream<\/h3>\n<p>Whereas guitar enthusiasts often think of Bream\u2019s contemporary, John Williams, as the inheritor of Andr\u00e9s Segovia\u2019s technical expertise, many of these same enthusiasts will nonetheless still regard Bream as <em>the guitar\u2019s<\/em> chosen representative.<\/p>\n<p>Like all virtuosic instrumentalists, his primary concern is to fervently communicate a composer\u2019s ideas and emotions to an appreciative audience.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>And when listening to Bream, or watching him play, he really does seem to be a conduit for the music&#8217;s beauty, vitality and expression.<\/p>\n<p>Quite simply, Bream has the ability to meet the music&#8217;s every demand, bringing it to life in a way that only the truly gifted can.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>From technical challenges to subjective choices about melodic phrasing, he never appears to be fighting the guitar to bring it under his mastery.<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t even to mention his sublime subtlety.<\/p>\n<p>In the below two videos, as his hands and fingers fly over the fretboard, it looks as if the instrument yields willingly to his every command.<\/p>\n<p>I could go on (and on), but it&#8217;s time to let Bream&#8217;s guitar do the talking on his behalf.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Bream plays\u00a0Isaac Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s <em>Sevilla (Sevillanas)<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<div class='tie-fluid-width-video-wrapper tie-ignore-fitvid' style='margin-bottom: 30px;'>\n\t\t\t<iframe style='width: 100%; min-height: 300px; aspect-ratio: 16\/9;' src='https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/HaZgZJrJmdk' loading='lazy'><\/iframe>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<h3>The emotion of the Spanish guitar<\/h3>\n<p>Over the course of the second half of the 20<sup>th<\/sup> century, Bream was regarded by many as the \u201cinterpreter\u201d of Spanish guitar music for the English public at large.<\/p>\n<p>Whereas famed guitar composers like T\u00e1rrega, de Falla, Sor and Villa-Lobos all come to mind, it is perhaps the vividness of Isaac Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s <em>Suite espa\u00f1ola<\/em> that captured (and still captures) the hearts of audiences worldwide.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Bream plays\u00a0Isaac Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s <em>Granada (Serenada)<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Julian Bream | Granada | Isaac Alb\u00e9niz\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EFoZJ25QL-U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Isaac Alb\u00e9niz and the <em>Suite espa\u00f1ola<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>The <em>Suite espa\u00f1ola<\/em> (the Spanish Suite) was written for the piano, but like much of Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s music, it was transcribed for the guitar.<\/p>\n<p>The composer\u2019s music, arguably, translates so well to the guitar because Alb\u00e9niz often incorporated Spanish guitar idioms to create music that expressed the spirit of the Spanish people.<\/p>\n<p>In the original suite, he attempted to capture the essence of four Spanish regions: Granada, Catalu\u00f1a, Sevilla and Cuba (at the time of composition in the mid-1880s, Cuba was part of Spain).<\/p>\n<p>Four more pieces were added to the suite in 1912 after Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_214314\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-214314\" style=\"width: 1254px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-214314\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2017\/01\/Alb\u00e9niz_with_his_daughter_Laura.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1254\" height=\"769\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-214314\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alb\u00e9niz seated at the piano. He was widely acknowleged as a virtuoso from childhood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">A bit more about Bream<\/h2>\n<h3>The beginnings<\/h3>\n<p>Bream\u2019s father was a commercial artist, but it was his piano playing that first set the imagination of an impressionable young boy alight.<\/p>\n<p>At the age of seven, Bream would be exposed to the guitar as his father accompanied an organ played by a farmer\u2019s wife (the family had been evacuated to a farm during World War II).<\/p>\n<p>Taking note of his son\u2019s passion, Bream senior gave Julian a Salvador Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez made guitar for his eleventh birthday in 1944.<\/p>\n<p>This would certainly prove to be a pivotal moment in the history of 20<sup>th<\/sup> century music.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_214318\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-214318\" style=\"width: 950px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-214318\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2017\/01\/django-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"950\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-214318\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The jazz legend, Django Reinhardt, was an early influence on Bream (photo: 1946)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Endowed with a hunger for more insight into music, its harmonic structure and his instrument, Bream taught himself a tremendous amount from books, ear and experimentation.<\/p>\n<p>In later life, his individualistic style (for example, often changing the angle of his right hand&#8217;s fingers to increase the force of dynamic changes and to extract greater tonal depth from the guitar\u2019s natural repertoire) could be attributed to the exploration of these formative years.<\/p>\n<h3>Royal College of Music<\/h3>\n<p>Bream\u2019s entrance to the London Royal College of Music in 1946, however, was based on his playing the cello and piano.<\/p>\n<p>Although the cello and piano were orchestral instruments that Julian could build a career with, his commitment to the guitar couldn\u2019t be dislodged.<\/p>\n<h3>Beyond the guitar<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_214316\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-214316\" style=\"width: 931px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-214316\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2017\/01\/lute-john-dowland.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"931\" height=\"523\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-214316\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The lute works of Elizabethan composer John Dowland were revived by the Julian Bream Consort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By 1960, Bream\u2019s guitar work had already attracted much acclaim, and his additional affinity for the lute and its Elizabethan compositions generated considerable interest from an English art music audience.<\/p>\n<p>In the same year, he formed the Julian Bream Consort, an ensemble of period instruments playing Renaissance pieces.<\/p>\n<h3>Accolades<\/h3>\n<p>Throughout his career, Bream has been recognised by honours only bestowed on the truly exceptional, including four Grammy Awards and several honorary Doctorates. He was also appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1964 (OBE), and as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1985 (CBE).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/spectrum.tysflo.io\/?mid=qov5TQ3x&amp;t=c&amp;fco=0\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-227627 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2017\/01\/listen-live-1-5.jpg\" width=\"758\" height=\"151\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"stream-item stream-item-below-post-content\">\n<div class='tenancy_slot tenancy_slot_1 jannah_ad' style='display: none;' data-query-id='7587fb7c20bb1f528fc3b1c2073fbe64'><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Colour, passion and sheer musicality are just a few words that come to mind when guitar lovers think of Julian Bream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7971,"featured_media":219205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Caxton Central","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[29018,28828,28751,29019,29020,29021,29022,29023,29024],"class_list":["post-219203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-albeniz-sevilla","tag-classic-1027","tag-classic-fm","tag-isaac-albeniz","tag-isaac-albeniz-granada","tag-julian-bream","tag-julian-bream-granada","tag-julian-bream-sevilla","tag-suite-espanola"],"amp_enabled":true,"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["albeniz sevilla","classic 1027","classic fm","isaac albeniz","isaac albeniz granada","julian bream","julian bream granada","julian bream sevilla","suite espanola"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7971"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}