Customer Reviews

The Golden Age of English Lute Music

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This disc comprises 24 pieces recorded during the 60's by Bream then sporting a fine head of hair. The first 15 were done in the Decca studios in London in 1960, the other 9 are from two separate live recitals in America in 1963, and there is applause after track 19 and track 24. Despite the age of the recordings, the quality (particularly in the studio) is good enough to satisfy all but the most exacting experts. As for the playing, the niceties of 'authenticity', whether regarding the instrument that Bream uses or the style he adopts, seem to me transcendentally unimportant. What I find a lot more significant is the beauty of tone, the subtlety and alertness of rhythm, the infallible-seeming finger-technique, the variety and resourcefulness of the colouring and the clarity when part-playing is called for - all the things that make Bream the special and unique genius that he is, as a lutenist just as much as in his guitar-playing.

One of the American selections consists of 4 pieces by Byrd, the other of 5 by Dowland, for whose work Bream seems to have a special affinity - I own a particularly fine Bream LP dedicated to Dowland, which I hope may see reissue on cd by and by. There are three other Dowland numbers among the studio performances, and the others are by a variety of less-known composers, some of them names I know others not, but all good-quality stuff, or so they seem to me. The liner is fairly basic in what it tells us, partly of course because little is known about some of the composers, even their dates of birth and decease having to be given approximately. What I would like to have seen explained more clearly is the precise status of the `popular tunes'. Greensleeves is here for one, although not exactly in the shape we know nowadays, as for example in the fantasia that Vaughan Williams wrote around it. On this disc it is attributed to one Francis Cutting and it's described, whether intentionally or through inadvertence, as a folk song. It doesn't sound any folk-song to me (not that I complain about that) and the liner-note writer makes no reference to one possible author I have often seen given the credit for it, namely Henry VIII, and I suppose that this is because he does not deserve such a mention. I was particularly pleased to see that I had acquired my second performance, in a collection that to this day does not have all the symphonies of Mahler nor even all Beethoven's piano sonatas, of the Carman's Whistle, a ditty of the demi-monde.

This is a disc that I would wish to recommend to music-lovers in general and not just to enthusiasts for `ancient music'. The compositions themselves are attractive and a number of them show real depth. The selection has been done carefully, with an adept mixture of lively and introspective numbers, and the whole set seems to be over in less than its actual 66 minutes. As for the playing, enthusiasts for one of the greatest instrumental artists of what I suppose I should now call the previous generation will find another treasure here. The liner-writer talks coyly about changes in Bream's style over the decades. That took place from him as it did from other great performing musicians, but what did not change was the sheer quality of it, and this superb set is a welcome reminder of that.

I got the LP version of the 1st 15 tracks around 1971. Since then I've added many Renaissance Lute albums to my collection, but have never heard a piece as moving as the Morley Pavan (#9) as played by Julian Bream. This rendering represents the very essence of the emotional depth that a Renaissance lute solo can sometimes achieve. (I'm listening from the perspective of someone who has heard literally thousands of hours of serious Renaissance choral music - not as someone who mainly listens to guitar.)

Julian Bream is beyond doubt the greatest lutenist of the 20th century. He uses fingernails and impeccable classical guitar technique on pure unison doubled courses (pairs of strings). He has the best musical intellect of any modern lutenist - and impeccable taste, ensuring a top notch Musical interpretation. His playing embodies elegant phrasing, great expressiveness, "ringing" highs, "bell-like" accents, fast runs, great vibrato, and spell-binding soft cadences that seem to sound better on a Lute than any other instrument. He produces great tone, very clear sound, great articulation, smooth chord changes, great dynamics, and great sustain. He has a huge array of techniques to vary the sound, and conveys the intended musical emotion.

His feel for the music of the period (let's not forget the "Julian Bream Consort"), and innate musicianship offer the best Renaissance Lute performances on record. His phrasing and deep understanding of what the music Should sound like is unsurpassed. He's mastered the introspective mood other lutenists try for on slow, minor key pieces, but can't quite get right. Truely gifted.

As a side note, it's difficult to understand how anyone hearing Julian play the lute can make the arguement that the lute shouldn't be played with fingernails (combined with flesh - the Segovia method). Most of the surviving literature says they didn't use nails 400 years ago, but the Segovia method hadn't been created, and they never had the priviledge of hearing Mr. Bream. I let my ears be the judge - why don't you?

This 1960 album was Julian Bream's first lute recording for RCA, and a stunning one it was too. For the first time the wonderful compositions of the Elizabethan and Jacobean times, long forgotten, were revived in performances brimming with vitality, musicality and élan, reducing to triviality the belly-achings of purists whimpering about inauthentic technique.

And it's clear from their own comments that many of the best modern lutenists (such as Nigel North and Paul O'Dette) might not even have been playing, were it not for the massive inspiration of Bream.

The CD version seems so far to have escape RCA's axe -- which makes it extremely lucky by comparison with it's companions; so snap it up while you still can.

The contents of the LP are:

01) Robert Johnson: Almaines (2)

02) John Johnson: Fantasia

03) Cutting: Walsingham

04) Dowland: Mignarda, P. 34

05) Cutting: Almaine

06) Rosseter: Galliard

07) Cutting: Greensleeves

08) Dowland: Galliard Upon A Galliard of Daniel Batchelar

09) Morley: Pavane

10) Robert Johnson: The Carman's Whistle

11) Bulman: Pavane

12) Batchelar: Monsieur's Almaine

13) Holborne: Pavan

14) Dowland: Batell Galliard, P. 40

15) Holborne: Galliard

for a total time of 45'31". To this the CD adds 9 extra tracks recorded live in 1963 in Massachusetts, as follows:

16) Byrd: Pavana Bray

17) Byrd: Galliard

18) Byrd: Pavan

19) Byrd: My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home

20) Dowland: Captain Digorie Piper's Galliard, P. 19

21) Dowland: Queen Elizabeth's Galliard, P. 41

22) Dowland: Sir John Langton's Pavan, P. 14

23) Dowland: Tarleton's Resurrection, P. 59

24) Dowland: Lady Clifton's Spirit, P. 45

bringing the total time to 66'55".

P.S. For a list of all Bream's lute recordings, see my So You'd Like To... Guide.

Listening to Julian Bream on this album is just heavenly. I often play it on Sunday afternoon. Quite peaceful.