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Julian Bream

Sean Rafferty visits guitarist Julian Bream at home in Wiltshire to discuss a lifetime of music making.

Sean Rafferty visits guitarist Julian Bream at home in Wiltshire to discuss a lifetime of music making.

At 80 years old, Julian Bream CBE has left a lasting legacy on the world of classical music, he popularised the lute and Elizabethan music and worked closely with composers such as Benjamin Britten, Michael Tippett and Malcolm Arnold to increase the guitar's repertoire.

Julian talks candidly to Sean about his experiences as a child prodigy, forced to play the piano and cello because the guitar wasn't considered a "serious" classical instrument and recounts his first experience, as a teenager, sitting in the Wigmore Hall with a pair of binoculars watching the hands of his hero Andres Segovia. Bream describes the anguish he felt while he locked himself in a shepherd's hut in Majorca for ten days, forcing himself to master Britten's fiendishly difficult Nocturnal, and how he offered Malcolm Arnold 拢30 to write him a concerto - a commission which was fulfilled in a matter of days.

Now at the end of his career and playing no more than a few notes on his guitar, this extended interview is a unique insight into one of Britain's most important musical figures of the 20th Century.

First broadcast in December 2013 (revised repeat)

44 minutes

Last on

Sat 29 Aug 2020 21:15

Music Played

  • Michael Tippett

    The Blue guitar for guitar

    Performer: Julian Bream.
    • TESTAMENT.
    • SBT-1333.
  • William Lawes

    Suite in D major, arr. Bream for 2 guitars [orig. for 2 lutes]

    Performer: John Williams. Performer: Julian Bream.
    • RCA.
    • 09026614502.
  • Joaqu铆n Rodrigo

    Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra

    Performer: Julian Bream. Performer: Monteverdi Orchestra.
    • RCA.
    • 09026 61605 2.
  • John Dowland

    My Lady Hunsdons puffe - almain for lute

    Performer: Julian Bream.
    • RCA.
    • 09026615832.
  • Daniel Bacheler

    Daniell's almayne for mixed consort

    Performer: Julian Bream Consort.
    • RCA.
    • 09026615832.
  • John Dowland

    Mrs Vauxes gigge P.57 for lute

    Performer: Julian Bream.
    • RCA.
    • 09026615832.
  • Malcolm Arnold

    Concerto Op.67 for guitar and small orchestra

    Performer: Julian Bream. Performer: Melos Ensemble.
    • RCA.
    • 09026615832.
  • John Dowland

    Lachrimae - pavan P.15 for lute

    Performer: Julian Bream.
    • RCA.
    • 09026615832.
  • Benjamin Britten

    Nocturnal after John Dowland Op.70 for guitar

    Performer: Julian Bream.
    • RCA.
    • 09026615832.

Broadcasts

  • Mon 23 Dec 2013 16:30
  • Mon 29 Sep 2014 22:00
  • Sat 29 Aug 2020 21:15