For some time now, the Lennox Berkeley Society has been promoting the composers music by offering a special prize at the Oxford Music Festival, so it was interesting to come across this in the Daily Telegraph today:
Few concerts have such specialist value as this programme devoted to English composer Lennox Berkeley’s complete works for classicalguitar – probably the first time they had been gathered together in one sitting. But then such programming is typical of the Royal Academy of Music, whose consistently stimulating concerts – many of them free to the public, and mixing students with major artists – present sometimes-overlooked treasure on London’s musical scene.
The article, which is a glowing review of the students at the Royal Academy, ends with the words “…these players found power and drama everywhere.” Well done, folks!
It was back to Chengdu last month to teach some of Professor Xu Bao’s students. This was a special trip because I was also the CD producer for Kuang Junhong’s first CD (at the age of 14). He really is something, and I hope you will enjoy the CD when it is released by Naxos.
There is a youthful optimism about his playing, but there is also the odd touch of masterful genius which comes through. Needless to say, his technique is flawless.
As he is very dedicated, I am sure he will mature into a wonderful musician.
His teacher says that to play an instrument well, you have to be first and foremost a good human being, with heart. (The other thing he says is that his students should have experience with other teachers and to this end he has invited many teachers from the West at his own expense, so that his students can absorb as many influences as they can).
It was very cold in the Main Concert Hall of Sichuan Conservatory, which was having a lift shaft installed during the day (and there are also 900 practice rooms all around making a Babelicious cacophony), so we had to record until late at night. It amazed me how many people were out on the street still eating at 4.00 am!
Junhong was the ideal person to record – he was always on the ball musically, and could intelligently work out edit points where necessary. There were a few pieces which were recorded as whole takes, and he can instantly absorb a musical or technical nuance.
During the day, we had lessons on the pieces, including his (by now famous) Chaconne by Bach. There was also Tedesco, Granados, Albeniz, Legnani and Mertz.
Junhong’s Chaconne at Iserlohn International Festival
What was unusual about the evenings was that I also recorded another guitarist consecutively – Chengbin from Shanghai, who has not made a CD before although he is quite a bit older than Junhong. His background is in Chinese Opera and he is a very instinctive and lively player. His CD was entirely of Brouwer, made for the sponsor of the recordings, Altamira.
Both players used Altamira guitars exclusively for their CDs.
Xu Bao and Chengbin outside the shop
Lu, GG, Junhong in the studio
We managed to finish the two CDs – done, dusted and edited in five days, with discussions and lessons on the pieces during the day as well as lessons for another 10 or so students.
So no time to see the pandas on this occasion, then!
Luckily we still had time to eat, although breakfast was a bit hazy after finishing regularly at 4.00-5.00am.
None of this would have been possible if I had not had a fine recording engineer with musical (and English) knowledge, who was so easy to work with it seemed that I was editing the CD directly.
His name is Lü Xin Long and it is worth keeping an eye out for his name, as he seems to be doing a lot of work at the moment in conjunction with the Chengdu YunTian Culture Communication Co.Ltd. On the final edit for Chengbin, he stayed up all night to master the CD so i could take it to Hanson Yao of Altamira when I went to Hong Kong the next morning.
Junhong, Lu Xin Long and Xu Bao
I also met another Chengdu kid to look out for – 11 year old Huang Yuexuan, who is extremely studious and serious about the guitar and also a bit of a laugh. His daily fare seems to be Villa Lobos Etudes 1 and 2, Bach Lute Suite 4 and Barrios Sueno en La Floresta. I would say he probably should get out more, but he does sometimes have to practise outside Xu Bao’s shop, which is in a leafy boulevard lined with instrument sellers and (for some unknown reason) hairdressers.
Xu Bao’s 200 or so students are divided between him and 4 or 5 other teachers, all ex students of his and it is all very hierarchical, but relaxed. We drank a lot of tea outside, mainly at dusk. Everyone was very respectful, hospitable and hard working. I felt very well looked after.
Huang YueXuan in the middle
Huang YueXuan doing a bit of casual practice in the lunch hour
Villa Lobos Etude 2 with a new fingering
You can listen to the interview I managed to snatch with Xu Bao during lunch just before leaving for the airport.
The next couple of days were spent in Hong Kong with Hanson Yao in his new guitar shop, with my friend and writer Jane Ram, and with my sister in law visiting from California and my 92 year old mother, but that is another story.
I had a wonderful time despite hard work and lack of sleep. Everyone was hospitable in a relaxed and human way. and I hope to return to Chengdu soon. It was great fun. Thank you all, especially Xu Bao, Hanson, Yang Yang, Zhu Re and of course the two artists, Junhong and Chengbin.
Maybe next time, I will get to see some pandas!
Eli Kassner celebrated his 90th birthday yesterday. He and Ann have been an inspiration to guitarists everywhere for more than three score years – a wonderful example of teaching, open mindedness, acceptance, enthusiasm and great hospitality leavened with a good dose of humour, gumption and a delight in life.
Thank you for your friendship, Dear EliAnn…
Eli Kassner studied guitar in Vienna and Israel before moving to Canada in 1951. He also studied in the United States, Palestine, and in Spain, under the great virtuoso classical guitarist, Andrés Segovia. He performed until 1967.
In 1956, he founded the Guitar Society of Toronto.[1] He was its president from 1960 to 1966 and artistic director from 1970 to 2008. In 1967, he established the Eli Kassner Guitar Academy.
He established the guitar program at the University of Toronto and the The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto (RCMT) in 1959 and started the University of Toronto Guitar Ensemble in 1978.
Under the direction of Steve Christmas and Berkshire Maestros BYGO has established a national and indeed international reputation for excellence.
This is their Festival debut with star soloist Craig Ogden, one of the leading classical guitarists of his generation.
The BYGO will play South American Dances by Ginastera and Rodriguez, Irish Folk Songs and three Gershwin Preludes. Craig’s solo pieces will be by Gary Ryan, Albeniz and Tarrega and Craig and the BYGO will come together in Gerald Garcia’s La Grazie Concerto for guitar and guitar orchestra.
This should be great – I have heard the BYGO under Steve Christmas before, and have known Craig since he was 14 years old when we met in Perth, Australia!
Hope you enjoy the Concerto folks!
Le Grazie was originally written for string trio (2 violins and Cello) and guitar as a companion to the Vivaldi D major “lute” concerto.
It was originally performed by its dedicatee Alison Bendy with students from Wheatley Park School in 2001 and has since been a favourite at summer schools in an arrangement for solo guitar and guitar orchestra. It has been performed numerous times all over the world and was conducted by the composer in the 2nd Swedish “Guitar instead of Guns” Gala in 2002 with, amongst others Zoran Dukic, Roland Dyens and Wolfgang Lendle in the orchestra!
It is in three movements in the form of an Italian concerto and the movements are : Night Sounds (tempo di boogie woogie – homage to Fats Waller) Clear Day (homage to Vivaldi) Star Rise (homage to Michael Tippett)
From the Philippines (land of my forbears) – plus news about Berta Rojas‘ project there.
The propensity for classical music might be genetic, or the taste might be acquired, or most likely both. What is indisputable is that, on the demand side, the market has been on the decline worldwide for decades, even before the preponderance of digital media and internet piracy and sharing.
If classical music in general is on the wane, the fate of the Spanish or classical guitar suffers a worse fate. The classical guitar has had a long battle to be a solo or even a chamber concert instrument.
In the Philippines, there was a major effort to promote classical guitar music since the early 2000s by visionaries Tonyboy Cojuangco and Greg Yu.
As musicians, we are concerned to hear that the use of steel-strung guitars is being prohibited in prisons. We believe music has an important role to play in engaging prisoners in the process of rehabilitation. However, this ability will be seriously undermined if inmates are unable to practise between group sessions.
As most guitars owned or used by inmates in our prisons are steel-strung acoustics, this ruling will mean that these instruments are kept under lock and key until time for a supervised session, if the prison in question has provision for musical tuition.
The stipulation that only nylon strings can be used will not alleviate this situation. There are several practical reasons why nylon strings are not suitable for a steel-strung acoustic guitar, not least the differing methods by which nylon and steel strings are attached to the instrument.
We understand that there must be security protocols when steel-strung guitars are used in prisons, but, until this ruling, access has been at the discretion of staff.
There has been a worrying rise in the number of self-inflicted deaths in the period since this ruling was introduced. Since October 2013, when only one death was reported, there have been a total of 50 self-inflicted deaths, over double the figure for the same period last year.
We would like to know whether the recent changes to the treatment of prisoners – which includes restrictions on books and steel-strung guitars – could be at the root of this steep increase in fatalities.
We urge the minister for justice, Chris Grayling, to urgently look into the causes of the rise in self-inflicted deaths in prison since the introduction of the recent prison service instruction and to explain why steel-strung guitars have been singled out for exclusion.
Billy Bragg Jail Guitar Doors, Johnny Marr, Speech Debelle, Dave Gilmour, Richard Hawley, Scroobius Pip, Guy Garvey, Ed O’Brien, Philip Selway, Seasick Steve, The Farm, Sam Duckworth
While in Chengdu this time, I managed to grab a quick interview with guitar professor, Xu Bao and asked him about his teaching at Sichuan Conservatoire, the repertoire he uses, the role of a teacher, sponsors and Kuang Junhong.
There is no record that Proust ever played the guitar, but the literary savant probably played tennis.
Actually Marcel Proust drew freely from musical works in order to cross-breed and transcribe them into novels – he uses music to transport the reader into various access points of memory, and writes in a very musical manner, cross-referencing themes, moving back and forth through time.
Vinteuil is the fictitious composer to whom Proust refers throughout À la recherche du temps perdu. But we know that it was in fact the amalgam of several composers who deeply influenced and affected the writer.
Composer Jorge Arriagad attempted to realise Vinteuil’s violin sonata for this scene in Raoul Ruiz’s 1999 film Le Temps retrouvé (Time Regained), which takes its title from the final book of À la recherche du temps perdu, but dips liberally into the entire novel. This scene replicates the kind of private salon gathering at which Vinteuil’s music would have been performed in the world of Proust’s novel.
Some news of the NYGE’s forthcoming concert with the VIDA Guitar Quartet. The concert is taking place at the beautiful Menuhin Hall, Surrey on Monday 21st April, 7pm. The venue is a 5 minute taxi ride from Cobham train station. This event is free for children (accompanied by an adult).
NATIONAL YOUTH GUITAR ENSEMBLE & VIDA
Monday 21st April – 7.00pm
The Menuhin Hall
Stoke D’Abernon, KT11 EQQ
Brighten up your Easter bank holiday with a concert performed by twenty six of the UK’s most talented guitarists and the critically acclaimed VIDA Guitar Quartet. The concert programme directed by Gerald Garcia, will include works for guitar ensemble and quartet by composers including Arensky, Arnold, Borodin, Garcia, Gershwin and Mussorgsky. Fresh from their American tour, the VIDA guitar quartet will also be performing pieces from their new album ‘Rhapsody’.
Tickets: £10 (Conc. £8) and FREE for Under 18s with an accompanied adult.
“The young musicians (NYGE) were really outstanding. The pieces played were diverse and complicated, ranging from beautiful to playful, and were all pulled off with great skill.”
selftaughtgirl’s recording of a radio broadcast from the 1980’s.
Rak: Remembering Prague, Voces de Profundis, & Danza Mauretana
Extraordinary techniques and unbridled enthusiasm.
I had lunch with Stepan and his son in Prague in the 80s, and they surprised me with a wild Russian song during dessert! Great laughs and bonhomie…
