It has been a long and hectic week which has left me precious little time to prepare a proper post for you today. Therefore I shall postpone the saga of my life's journey until next week. However, as there is always time for beautiful music, I found this little treasure which I have posted below. Nicolo Paganini wrote 37 Sonatas for Guitar, although a Violin Virtuoso, his pairing of Violin and Guitar in many pieces is both brilliant and beautiful. However today we shall concentrate only on the Solo Guitar Sonatas penned by Paganini and interpreted here wonderfully by Guido Fichtner. The complete play list may be found here.
Lack of prep time has also left me sadly lacking any visual treats today, so I apologize. You will just have to make do with the beautiful music for today. Thanks for the visit, do come again and bring your friends. The more the merrier and as always, Enjoy!
Having spent most of yesterday in bed asleep, I am feeling much better this morning. However, because I did nothing yesterday, I have a very busy day ahead starting with the dreaded laundry chore first thing this morning followed by the weekly shopping and errands. Then I get to put it all together and get to work by 5 o'clock for my second truck night this week. So I definitely got my work cut out for me, but I have the weekend off to recover from whatever comes down the pike today.
I haven't spent much time with the news cycle, but Will pointed me to this historic legislation introduced into the Senate by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. This legislation would end federal prohibition of marijuana, marking the latest move
the Democratic presidential candidate has made toward ending the war on
drugs.
The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, introduced Wednesday, is modeled after a bill first proposed by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) in 2013, which was reintroduced this year as the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act. The Senate bill would remove marijuana from the Drug Enforcement Administration's list of the "most dangerous" drugs and strike marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, allowing states to decide whether they want to legalize pot for recreational or medical use without federal intervention.
The bill comes a week after Sanders first proposed
reclassifying marijuana as a less-dangerous substance, arguing that
doing so is an essential component of reforming America's criminal
justice system.
"In the United States we have 2.2 million people in jail today, more
than any other country. And we’re spending about $80 billion a year to
lock people up. We need major changes in our criminal justice system –
including changes in drug laws,” Sanders said
at George Mason University on Oct. 28. “Too many Americans have seen
their lives destroyed because they have criminal records as a result of
marijuana use. That’s wrong. That has got to change."
Well said and done, Bernie! let's hope you can gather the votes necessary from your conservative fuckheads esteemed colleagues across the aisle as well as finding those of your own party who are in support. (many thanks to Huff Post and Mollie Reilly for their contribution to this post)
Now as for the Music and the Men, I have a boat load of both lined up for you all today! Beginning with the play list posted down below. I have the excellent recording of the Complete Guitar Concerti of Baroque Italian Virtuoso/Composer, Mauro Guiliani. This performance is by the modern Guitar Virtuoso, Pepe Romero who is accompanied by The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Mariner. The play list includes Concerto No.1 in A, Op.30; Concerto No.2 in A, Op.36;Variations on - "I bin a Kohlbauern Bub," Op.49; Gran Sonata Eroica in A; Concerto No.3 in F, Op.70; Introduction, Theme with Variations and Polonaise in A, Op.65 - Introduction; Grande Ouverture, Op.61; La Melanconia; Variations on a Theme of Handel, Op.107 and concludes with Variazioni Concertanti, Op.130. Over on my tumblr is the companion piece, Guiliani's Grande Duo Concertante for Flute (or Violin) and Guitar, Opus 85. That recording is by James Hontz on Guitar and Kelly McDermott on Flute.
Since this is Friday, it is time to stuff your senses with visual inspiration for anything you would want to imagine. I do not know what you might have up your sleeve to do, but anyone of these studly fellows would certainly be a worthy companion, whatever the endeavor. Check them all out in this week's edition of Fantasy Fuel posted down below. Over on my tumblr, Your Hottie of the Day! has some definite plans for his 'Weekend in the Woods'. Perhaps you would like to join him in his adventure (he he he). Thanks for the visit, see you again on Sunday for the Morning Concert. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Yesterday was a long and tedious day and one where Uncle Gerry was not feeling his finest. I had a nagging headache that would not go away added to being on the edge of nausea all day. Events precluded much rest, really only a couple of hours before I had to go to work. The first thing I did upon my arrival is proceed to the men's room to totally toss my cookies in the toilet. I got to feeling a little better after that until about 2 AM when I did it again, just for good measure. After that I got to feeling a lot better and that has continued into today so far. I have had a busy morning and when I got back to the house, I slipped right into a dozing session on my patio.
Anyway, somewhere between bar/lunch (for late night workers) rush and coffee rush, I had a customer come in and bring some items to the counter. Among the items he brought for purchase were a couple of Jack Links Squatch brand Meat Sticks. Nothing too remarkable about that except for the marketing slogan on each stick. There is a little sasquatch like character on the label purportedly spouting the little slogan printed there. The slogans are in the sasquatch/caveman type vernacular with sayings like "Meat Good" and "Life is better with Meat". I read that one and remarked to the customer in a joking manner that there were thousands of Gay Men who would agree with that statement. This brought the intended guffaw and a "well, there is that!". I would have to say the most homoerotic sounding of all and my favorite of course was "Meat Me, Eat Me". I know there are thousands of you guys out there who live and die by that one (circuit party or Saturday night at the bars, anyone?).
This of course reminded me of an incident a few months back late on a Friday night. I had these two young ladies come in after a night on the town. They messed about choosing drinks and snacks while conversing about the night out and how hungry they were. They came to the counter, one with snacks and drinks and one with just drinks. The one without snacks remarked to the other one "I really don't want to buy anything to eat, I have this big Meat Stick at home.". Never one to miss the opportunity to walk through an open door in the name of humor, I piped up with :oh, really? What's his Name?" which brought an OMG and immediate laughter from both of them. The lady with the snacks then related that they were both 8th grade teachers blowing off steam after a tough week in the classrooms. She said she taught math and in one of her afternoon classes filled with jock types, they played a counting game. The amusing thing about the game? Only the name, Balls Galore, which of course brings a room full of junior high jocks into an immediate tizzy of juvenile humor. The "Oh I got some balls you can count" train of thought, etc. We all got a good laugh about that one too.
Funny what you find to amuse you in the middle of the night at a 7-Eleven. It sure does help to pass the time on a slow night. Anytime you get late nights, slightly to greatly inebriated customers and a clerk with a ribald sense of humor, you get get lots of juvenile humor, laughter and stories to tell here on the blog. I will be sure to keep you posted on the next amusing incident in the continuing saga of late night events known as the tales 'Of Meat and Men'.
That bring us to the Music and the Men. As this is Tuesday, Random is the call of the day and the long straw is drawn by......(drum roll, please).... Domenico Scarlatti. I thought I remembered a play list or two I had put together previously and sure enough I found it. The play list contains Sonatas for Viola d'Amore and Harpsichord by Scarlatti. Included are Sonatas K77-80, K88, K89, K90 and K91. The performance is by Valerio Losito on a 1775 Guadagnini Viola d'Amore and Andre Coen on a replica of a 1620 Italian Harpsichord. Over on my tumblr, I have more of Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas, but with a twist. That play list is transcribed for Guitar and performed by Edoardo Catemario.
Then keeping with the randomness of the day, the sultry sexiness on display down below is superb in this week's edition of Random Hotness posted down below. Then over on my tumblr, your random Hottie of the Day! is both "Ruff and Ready' for whatever hotness you can come up with. Thanks for hanging around til I got here. See you again soon. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Welcome to the Weekend and your Saturday Evening Concert as we wrap up our two week exploration of the Giants of the Guitar in celebration of International Guitar Month. I must apologize for the lateness of my post, but there are mitigating circumstances. I got some overtime in at work this week and Friday nearly kicked my ass. I end my work week with my longest shift with the most items on the agenda for the evening. Of course the grocery truck was a tad tardy so I had to stay over a bit to finish things up. As a result I was just a wee bit bushed when I did get home from work. I have taken things slow and easy today, not wanting to get in a hurry or stress out over anything. That being said, I still have some Fabulous Live Performances lined up to share with you this evening. So let's get to it, shall we?
In our exploration of the Giants of the Guitar, we have featured many Musical Artists and Multiple Composers all dedicated to this Marvelous Musical Instrument. Tonight's concerts are both in intimate settings that accentuate the beautiful Music being performed. The concert's also feature three Musical Artists whom I have yet had the pleasure of featuring in these pages performing selections from several different Composers.
Posted down below is a recital performance in the Trinity Episcopal Church by the Brasil Guitar Duo of João Luiz and Douglas Lora. The play a selection of works from various Composers and speak intimately with the audience during the recital. There is a plug for the Episcopal Church at the end but you can skip that if you like. The recital features two great artists performing a repertoire that mixes Classical with traditional Brazilian music. It is a wonderful performance that includes:
23:00 Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco:
Sonatina Canonica along with 3 Preludes & Fugues from his 24 Preludes & Fugues's: Prelude & Fugues in B Flat, E Flat
and C
Oh yes, there is also visual stimulation in the extremely sexy edition of Naked or Nearly Sodown below. Then combining my love of Hispanic Hotties and the Cello is the 'Muy Quiero y Cello' Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr. Thanks for sticking around to share part of you Weekend with me, see you again on Monday for another week of Music, Men & More! Until next time as always, Enjoy!
I am so glad it is Friday, I am really ready for the Weekend. But first I have to get through truck night in the rain, lovely. However, we have much more pleasant things to talk about, say our continuing series on the Giants of the Guitar. This week we have focused on The Composers while not necessarily highlighting The Performers although all of our featured works have been marvelous all on their own. Today is no different, I have a couple of gems found among the jewels of the Baroque era to share with you today. We had Music from Boccherini yesterday which led me to the rediscovery of our featured works today. Boccherini was born in Lucca, in the Tuscany region of Italy. Some 56 years prior to the birth of Boccherini, Lucca produced its first jewel in the Baroque crown in Francesco Geminiani.
From our friend Wikipedia:
Born at Lucca, he received lessons in music from Alessandro Scarlatti, and studied the violin under Carlo Ambrogio Lonatiin Milan and afterwards under Arcangelo Corelli. From 1707 he took the place of his father in the Cappella Palatina of Lucca. From 1711, he led the opera orchestra at Naples, as Leader of the Opera Orchestra and concertmaster,
which gave him many opportunities for contact with Alessandro
Scarlatti. After a brief return to Lucca, in 1714, he set off for London, where he arrived with the reputation of a virtuoso violinist, and soon attracted attention and patrons, including William Capel, 3rd Earl of Essex, who remained a consistent patron. In 1715 Geminiani played his violin concerti for the court of George I, with Handelat the keyboard.
After visiting Paris and residing there for some time, he returned to England in 1755. In 1761, on one of his sojourns in Dublin, a servant robbed him of a musical manuscript on which he had bestowed much time and labor. His vexation at this loss is said to have hastened his death.
He appears to have been a first-rate violinist. His Italian pupils reportedly called him Il Furibondo, the Madman, because of his expressive rhythms. In an unusual trio grouping of ic Guitar, Cello and Harpsichord, Geminiani provides us with 6 Sonatas that are delightfully mellow and joyously listenable. Today's performers are Laszlo Szendry Karper on Guitar, Ede Banda on Cello and Janos Sebestyen on Harpsichord.
Some 20 years after Boccherini was born, Classical Music was in the midst of a Golden Age with brilliant Musicians and Composers being born or coming to the fore almost like little bunnies doing their thing. In the small village of Mattsee near Salzburg, Anton Diabelli was born. Diabelli was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his set of thirty-three Diabelli Variations.[1] He was instrumental in publishing and promoting the works of Franz Schubert, being the first to do so in 1821. Diabelli composed the marvelous "Grande Sonate Brillante" for Guitar and Piano, Op. 102 which is the work I have chosen as our companion piece over on my tumblr in an effort to feature as many composers as possible in the time allowed. The piece is performed on period instruments by Erik Stenstadvold, on a 19th Century Guitar & Brenda Blewett on Piano.
Then Friday would not be complete with our a little Fantasy Fuel which you will find in abundance posted down below this post. Also be sure to check out Addison Graham who is worth a whole 'nother Fantasy all by himself as the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr. Thanks for the visit, tune in tomorrow for another Fabulous Live Performance on the Saturday 'Evening Concert. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
It Thursday & pay day, so of course I am running a little behind. But hey, it is still Thursday, right? Anyway, we continue on our journey of exploration into the Giants of the Guitar with this week's focus on The Composers. Most of the Music we have heard over the last couple of weeks has been solo works, concerti or works for other instruments transcribed for performance on the Guitar. However the Guitar lends itself well to duos, trios and other groupings of instruments in an ensemble. I have a particular affinity for the Baroque period with composers like Boccherini, Corelli and Vivaldi among my favorites as composers. Luigi Boccherini wrote a large amount of chamber music, including over one hundred string
quintets for two violins, viola and two cellos (a type which he
pioneered, in contrast with the then common scoring for two violins, two
violas and one cello), a dozen guitar quintets, not all of which have
survived, nearly a hundred string quartets, and a number of string trios and sonatas (including at least 19 for the cello). His orchestral music includes around 30 symphonies and 12 virtuoso cello concerti.
I have the surviving Guitar Quintets for you today recorded in a marvelous performance by the ensemble La Magnifica Comunità with Eros Roselli on Guitar. The play list includes Guitar Quintette Nr.1 d-moll G.445; Guitar Quintette Nr.3 B-dur G.447 22:41; Guitar Quintette Nr.5 D-dur G.449 44:45; Guitar Quintette Nr.6 G-dur G.450 1:04:25 ; Guitar Quintette Nr.4 D-dur G.448 1:19:59; Guitar Quintette Nr.2 E-dur G.446 1:38:21 and Guitar Quintette C-dur G.453 1:57:50.
Another form of ensemble expression is the Guitar Quartet. There are some works written for a Guitar Quartet but a lot of the Guitar Quartet repertoire consists of transcriptions of works for other groupings. One excellent example is the Orchestral Suite from the Opera Carmen by Georges Bizet. The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet has transcribed the suite for Guitar Quartet and you will find their performance over on my tumblr.
And no I did not forget the eye candy, you will find the dynamite in denim in the Men In Jeans post down below and in Mr October, the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr. Thanks for sticking around, tune in tomorrow for more Giants of the Guitar. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Happy Hump Day and Welcome to day 3 of The Composers in our exploration of the Giants of the Guitar. Not all Music performed on the Guitar was written for the instrument itself. Many times, a composer from a later time will take a work from an earlier time for which he has a particular affinity or thinks would work well if performed for an instrument other than the one for which it was written. Such it is with all the Music in our exploration today. Contemporary Composers have taken Music composed by Maestros Mozart and Haydn and transcribed them for performance on the Classical Guitar.
Our featured works here today were all composed by Mozart for an instrument or instruments other than the Guitar. The videos are all courtesy of the Los Angeles Guitar Academy with the scores transcribed for Guitar, mostly by staffer/composer Emre Sabuncuoglu. The performance artist is not listed but I assume it to be one of the instructors if not Emre himself illustrating the finished transcriptions of the following works:
Rondo alla Turca (Turkish March)
"Lacrimosa" from Requiem in D Minor, K 626
Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben from Zaide
Queen of the Night's Aria from The Magic Flute
Piano Sonata, K545, First Movement
Eine kliene Nachtmusik, First Movement
Symphony Number 25, The 'Little G', First Movement
You guys know how I love the Cello, well Haydn's Cello Concerto in C Major is actually quite awesome when transcribed for Guitar. You will find Jovan Pesec's transcription over on my tumblr performed by the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra under Georg Kugi with Gabriel Guillén as the Guitar Soloist to whom the transcription was dedicated by Pesec.
There are lots of splashing good times to get you 'wet all over' for your visual consumption in this weeks edition of Wet Wednesday posted down below. The Steven Dehler looks adorable on the beach in his Timateos over on my tumblr also.Thanks for tuning in, come on back tomorrow to see what Uncle Gerry has up his sleeve for you then. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
In these pages, our Featured Composer, while legendary for his music composed for the violin, Nicolo Paganini is no less skilled or enjoyable in his compositions for the guitar. Milanese guitarist Guido Fichtner takes on Paganini's repertoire of 37 Sonatas for the Guitar with great relish and flawless technique. One can sense this from the opening notes to the fade out. This suppleness and athletic playing continue throughout the album, where there is a graceful energy and a lifting feeling throughout. Fichtner sounds confident and is able to highlight the melody while still playing the accompaniment, and breathing life into the lines, with swelling crescendo-decrescendos. We also hear his tenderness in the dynamic changes for which Paganini is so famous. The complete play list may be found here @ AllMusic.
We can't slip away without providing you with a little visual stimulation to brighten your day. For this I tried to select stunning or evocative photographs in some oblique fashion to come up with this particularly comely collection of Random Hotness posted down below. Of course, you may draw additional inspiration from the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr. Thanks for the visit, tune in tomorrow to see what is next in our exploration of The Composers. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Happy 420 everyone and welcome to our continuing celebration of International Guitar Month with our exploration of the Giants of the Guitar. Last week we took a look at The Performers, well this week we explore the Music of The Composers. The Guitar as an instrument dates back almost 400 years with the earliest Renassance & Baroque Guitars having been strung with four courses. Courses are double strings set closely and plucked together to produce the sound. During the Baroque period a fifth course was added, the Nicolas Alexandre Voboam II style having a flat back and the Matteo Sellas style a round back. Music written specifically for the classical guitar dates from the
addition of the sixth string (the baroque guitar normally had five pairs
of strings) in the late 18th century. The Modern Six String Classical Guitar came into being around 1790.
Of music written originally for guitar, the earliest important composers are from the classical period and include Fernando Sor(b. Spain 1778) and Mauro Giuliani (b. Italy 1781), both of whom wrote in a style strongly influenced by Viennese classicism. In the 19th century guitar composers such as Johann Kaspar Mertz (b. Slovakia, Austria 1806) were strongly influenced by the dominance of the piano. Not until the end of the nineteenth century did the guitar begin to establish its own unique identity. Francisco Tárrega (b. Spain 1852) was central to this, sometimes incorporating stylized aspects of flamenco's Moorish influences into his romantic miniatures. This was part of late 19th century mainstream European musical nationalism. Albéniz and Granados were central to this movement; their evocation of the guitar was so successful that their compositions have been absorbed into standard guitar repertoire.
The steel-string and electric guitars characteristic to the rise of rock and roll in the post-WWII era became more widely played in North America and the English speaking world. Barrios composed many works and brought into the mainstream the characteristics of Latin American music, as did the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Andrés Segovia commissioned works from Spanish composers such as Federico Moreno Torroba and Joaquín Rodrigo, Italians such as Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Latin American composers such as Manuel Ponce of Mexico. Other prominent Latin American composers areLeo Brouwerof Cuba, Antonio Lauro of Venezuela and Enrique Solares of Guatemala. Julian Bream of Britain managed to get nearly every British composer from William Walton to Benjamin Britten to Peter Maxwell Davies to write significant works for guitar. Bream's collaborations with tenor Peter Pears also resulted in song cycles by Britten, Lennox Berkeley and others. There are significant works by composers such as Hans Werner Henze of Germany, Gilbert Biberian of England and Roland Chadwick of Australia.
The classical guitar also became widely used in popular music and rock & roll in the 1960s after guitarist Mason Williams popularized the instrument in his instrumental hit Classical Gas. Guitarist Christopher Parkeningis quoted in the book Classical Gas: The Music of Mason Williams as saying that it is the most requested guitar piece besides Malagueña and perhaps the best known instrumental guitar piece today. In the field of New Flamenco, the works and performances of Spanish composer and player Paco de Lucía are known worldwide.
Not many classical guitar concerti were written through the guitar history. Nevertheless, some guitar concerti are nowadays widely known and popular, especially Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (with the famous theme from 2nd movement) and Fantasía para un gentilhombre. There are more and more Concerti being written for the Guitar as the repertoire expansion that began with Segovia's inspiration continues. I will try to feature as many works by as many composers as possible this week, however I will not be able to cover the expanse of the repertoire that exits today.
I will start with one of the earliest Guitar Virtuosi who was also a Cellist, Singer and of course, a Composer. Italian Composer Mauro Guiliani wrote more than 150 different works for Guitar including Solo, Duo, Ensemble and Orchestral Scores. As a Cellist he played in the orchestra at the debut of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. As a Guitar Composer, he was very fond of the theme and variations—
an extremely popular form in Vienna. He had a remarkable ability to
weave a melody into a passage with musical effect while remaining true
to the idiom of the instrument. Today's video presentation features the two CD set: Guiliani Complete Guitar Concertos, Gran Sonata eroica and other solo works. Disc One is posted down below and Disc Two is over on my tumblr. Today's performance is by The Academy of St Martin in the Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner featuring Pepe Romero as the Soloist. The Disc one play list includes:
1. Concerto No.1 in A, Op.30 0:00 2. Concerto No.2 in A, Op.36 22:36 3. Variations on - "I bin a Kohlbauern Bub," Op.49 54:49 4. Gran Sonata Eroica in A 1:04:23
I would like to once again thank Wikipedia for their invaluable contributions to this post. But before I sign off, there is still the matter of a little visual stimulation for a Monday. In honor of the 420 celebration, I tried to choose guys that were smoking hot or whose 'blunt' I would definitely 'smoke'. You will find my results in this week's edition of Monday's Undies posted down below and in the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr. Tune in tomorrow as we explore more Music of The Composers. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Welcome to the Weekend and your Saturday Evening Concert. It has been a great week as we have examined the Giants of the Guitar. We wrap up this week's focus on The Performers with another great concert before next week's look at The Composers who wrote so much grand and glorious music for the Guitar. But that's next week, for tonight, I have another intimate recital for you featuring both Julian Bream and John Williams recorded live in the Chapel at Old Wardour Castle in Wiltshire, England.
Over on my tumblr, I have chosen to feature Pepe Romero in concert whom I have not had the opportunity to profile this week. Pepe Romero is the son of Caledonio Romero, guitarist, Composer and founder of the Los Romeros Quartet. Pepe has been a member of Los Romeros since 196o and is a world-renowned classical and flamenco guitarist. He is particularly famous for his outstanding technique and colorful musical interpretations on the instrument. Tonight's performance in from the 2011 Guitar Arts Festival in Belgrade, Serbia. Romero appears in concert with Camerata Serbica under the baton of Marcelo Rota. His play list includes Rodrigo's Conceirto de Aranjuez and Tarrega's Recuerdos de la Alhambra.
For your visual entertainment I have some exquisite photographs of lithesome and muscular men who are all Naked or Nearly So posted down below. There is also additional visual inspiration in the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr. Thanks for sharing part of your Weekend with me, be sure to check in next week as we continue our look at the Giants of the Guitar as we begin our focus on The Composers. Join me for another week of Music, Men and More! Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Well, we have made it to Friday and the Weekend is upon us. Hoo-Fucking-Ray!!! It has been a fun week as we have enjoined our celebration of International Guitar Month with our series on the Giants of the Guitar. This week our focus has been on The Performers with an all star line up starting with Andres Segovia. In the world of Classical Guitar, it always starts with Segovia. Narciso Yepes, John Williams and Julian Bream were all either taught or influenced by Segovia and today's featured performer follows in the footsteps of that legacy as well.
... The First Lady of Classical Guitar, Sharon Isbin. Isbin was born in Minneapolis, MN, the daughter of Katherine (Brudnoy) Isbin and Herbert S. Isbin, a nuclear scientist and professor at the University of Minnesota and author of Introductory Nuclear Reactor Theory (1963). She began her guitar studies at age nine in Varese, Italy, where her father had been hired as a consultant. She was a student of Aldo Minella, Jeffrey Van, Andrés Segovia, Oscar Ghiglia, Alirio Díaz, and the noted keyboard artist and Bach scholar Rosalyn Tureck.
Isbin collaborated with Dr. Tureck in preparing and recording landmark
first performance editions of the Bach lute suites for guitar (published
by G. Schirmer).
Multi-Grammy Award winner Sharon Isbin is the author of the Classical Guitar Answer Book, and is director of the Guitar Department at theAspen Music Festival[6] and the Guitar Department at The Juilliard School which she created in 1989. Isbin has been hailed by Boston as "the pre-eminent guitarist of our time". She is also the winner of Guitar Playermagazine's "Best Classical Guitarist" award, First Prize winner of the Toronto Guitar '75 competition, a winner of the Madrid Queen Sofia, and the first guitarist ever to win the Munich Competition. A one-hour documentary on her titled Sharon Isbin: Troubadour, produced by Susan Dangel, was presented by American Public Television for broadcast on nearly 200 public television stations throughout the US beginning in November 2014.
Isbin has appeared as soloist with over 170 orchestras, and has commissioned more concerti than any other guitarist, including concerti by John Corigliano, Tan Dun,
Aaron Jay Kernis, Joseph Schwantner, Lukas Foss, Chris Brubeck and
Christopher Rouse. Other composers who have written for her include Joan
Tower, David Diamond, Ned Rorem, Howard Shore, John Duarte,Leo Brouwer, Bruce MacCombie, Steve Vai and Richard Danielpour. Isbin's catalogue of over 25 recordings ranges from Baroque, Spanish/Latin and 20th century to crossover andjazz-fusion. In October 2014, Warner Classics released a 5-CD box set of her most popular albums on the label titled Sharon Isbin: 5 Classic Albums.
I have an intimate encounter with Sharonrecorded live at the inaugural Portland Performing Arts Festival in Portland, MN on June 29, 2012 posted down below. Isbin presented a diverse
program featuring Latin romances for guitar by Tarrega, Albeniz,
Granados, and Barrios Mangore, as well as Andecy by Andrew York and the
Joan Baez Suite written for her by John Duarte. The companion piece I have chosen for my tumblr in Isbin's latest CD Sharon Isbin & Friends: Guitar Passions which became a #1 best seller on Amazon.com, and includes guests Steve Vai, Stanley Jordan, Nancy Wilson, Steve Morse, Romero Lubambo, Rosa Passos, Thiago de Mello, and Paul Winter.
Then with the Weekend bearing down on us like a freight train, it is time to indulge ourselves in a little imagination fascination and this week's edition of Friday's Fantasy Fuel should give you plenty of inspiration. Then there is the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr who offers you a 'Tropical Tease'. Thanks for the visit, tune in tomorrow to see which fabulous live performance I have picked out for the Giants of The Guitar Saturday Evening Concert. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Wow, we are sliding down hill towards the Weekend rather quickly, it's amazing how fast time move when you're having fun. And I am having fun, it has been a great week so far with lots of great Music from our Giants of the Guitar. Our emphasis on The Performers this week has brought us terrific performances by Andres Segovia, Narciso Yepes, and John Williams thus far. Today we feature Williams' fellow countryman Guitarist/Lutenist Julian Bream.
Our friend Wikipedia tells us this about our featured Performer:
Julian Bream is one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century.
He has also been successful in renewing popular interest in the lute. He was born into a musical family in London in 1933. His father was a commercial artist, with an "extraordinary talent for
drawing" and a "natural musician" according to Bream. Bream would lie
under the piano in "ecstasy" when his father played. His grandmother owned a pub in Battersea, and Bream spent much time there during his youth. His father played jazz guitar and the young Bream was impressed by hearing the playing of Django Reinhardt.
Bream began his lifelong association with the guitar by strumming
along on a small gut-string Spanish guitar at an early age to dance
music on the radio. He become frustrated with his lack of knowledge of
harmony, so read instruction books by Eddie Lang to teach himself.
His father taught him the rudimentary basics. The president of the
Philharmonic Society of Guitars, Dr Boris Perott, gave Bream further
lessons, while his father became the society librarian, giving young
Bream access to a large collection of rare music.
On his 11th birthday, Bream was given a guitar by his father. He
became something of a child prodigy, at 12 winning a junior exhibition
award for his piano playing, enabling him to study piano and cello at
the Royal College of Music. In 1947, aged 13, he made his debut guitar recital at Cheltenham.
Leaving the RCM in 1952, Bream was called up into the army for national service. He was originally drafted into the Pay Corps, but managed to sign up for the Royal Artillery Band after six months. This required him to be stationed in Woolwich, which allowed him to moonlight regularly in London with the guitar.
After three and a half years in the army, he took any musical jobs
that came his way, including background music for radio plays and films.
Commercial film, recording session and work for the BBC were important to Bream throughout the 1950s and the early 1960s. He played part of a recital at the Wigmore Hall on the lute in 1952 and since has done much to bring music written for the instrument to light.
1960 saw the formation of the Julian Bream Consort, a
period-instrument ensemble with Bream as lutenist. The consort led a
great revival of interest in the music of the Elizabethan era. Bream pursued a busy career playing around the world, his first
European tours took place in 1954 and 1955, followed (beginning in 1958)
by extensive touring in the Far East, India, Australia, the Pacific Islands and other parts of the world. Bream performed for the Peabody Mason Concert series in Boston, first solo in 1959, and later with the US debut of his Consort. In addition to master classes given in North America, Bream has conducted an international summer school in Wiltshire, England. You will remember I told you yesterday about the Grammy he shared with John Williams in 1973 for Julian and John.
I have a great bit of video to illustrate the charm and vibrance of one of his live recitals. This performance was broadcast live on the BBC 2 on 01 Feb 1978. Julian Bream performs works by Bach, Villa-Lobos, Albeniz and Britten at Old Wardour Castle before a live audience. For a companion piece, I have chosen Bream's 20th Century Guitar LP from 1967 with works only by 20th Century Composers which you will find duly posted on my tumblr.
You may indulge yourself in the delights found in these darling dudes in denim when you scroll down to this week's edition of Men In Jeans down below. Be sure to check out the 'Awesome Aussie' Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr also. Thanks for stopping in, tune in tomorrow when we profile the First Lady among our Giants of the Guitar. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Here it is Hump Day and we find ourselves in the midst of a great week looking at the Music of the Giants of the Guitar. This week we are looking at the Performers and next week we will get in as many of the Composers as will fit. Today's featured Performer is a direct legacy of Andres Segovia, Grammy winner John Williams. He is not to be confused with Film Composer and Academy Award winner John Williams. Our John Williams was born in Melborne, Australia to a British father and an Aussie Mum. His first teacher was his father, Guitarist Len Williams, who moved the family to London in 1952.
From the age of eleven he attended summer courses with Andrés Segovia at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Later, Williams attended the Royal College of Music
in London from 1956 to 1959, studying piano because the college did not
have a guitar department at the time. Upon graduation, he was offered
the opportunity to create such a department. He took the opportunity and
ran the department for its first two years. Williams has maintained
links with the college (and with the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester) ever since. His Grammy, which he shared with Guitarist/Lutenist Julian Bream for Julian and John, win came in 1973. (We will talk more about Julian tomorrow) His Concert and Recording career spans 7 decades and shows no sign of stopping as he is still currently performing world wide.
I have two LP's to share with you today between here and my tumblr. Posted below is John Williams Plays Bach The Four Lute Suites on Guitar. The play list includes Suite No. 1 in E minor for Lute, BWV 996; Suite (Partita) in A minor, BWV 997 (originally in C minor); Lute Suite No. 4 in E Major, BWV 1006a and Suite in A minor for Lute, BWV 995. Over on my tumblr, John takes us on a Musical Journey through 500 Years of Guitar.
Of course Hump Day would not be complete with out a little celebration and splash about as we crest the hump and get started down hill towards the Weekend. You will find Uncle Gerry's prescription for sore eyes in this edition of Wet Wednesday posted down below. Additional visual inspiration may be viewed in the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr. Thanks for sharing some time with me today, tune in tomorrow for our look at Julian Bream, our next Giant of the Guitar. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Welcome to the Weekend and your Saturday Evening Concert. As always, I have a stellar live performance lined up for you this evening. But first I must tell you, today is a special day here in Fort Worth, marking the end of the 2015 Stock Show and Rodeo (Oh, Thank You, Jesus!). But that is not the only reason today is special here in Fort Worth. Across from the Stock Show Festivities sits the Kimball Art Museum, recently expanded and World Class, whose facilities include a concert venue in their Piano Pavillion. This evening the Piano Pavillion plays host to one of the premier masters of the accoustic Classical Guitar, Pepe Romero.
While I cannot live stream the simulcast of Pepe in Concert from the Kimball, I do have a Concert Performance from September of 2007 to share with you. In this concert appearance Pepe Romero plays the world premier of Federico Moreno Torroba's Sabicas Concierto en Flamenco and also the Concierto de Malaga written by his father, Celedonio Romero, with his son, Angel Romero, conducting the Orquesta Filarmonica de Málaga from his hometown of Malaga Spain.
For another classic live performance, head on over to my tumblr. There you will find the 1954 recording of then 77 year old Pablo Casals performing the Suite Number 1 for Solo Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. You will also find the Hottie of the Day!, Brandon to put the cherry on the top of the sundae after you cruise the Naked or Nearly So in the post down below. Thanks for sharing part of your Weekend with me, see you again on Monday for another week of Music, Men & More! Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Welcome to the Weekend and your Saturday Evening Concert. Now that Christmas is over, I am going to shake things up a bit on the Saturday Evening Concert. While not featuring solely symphonic works, I want to put the emphasis on recordings of great live performances in venues great and small around the world. I am going to get started with tonight's stellar performances featuring two works for Guitar by Spanish Composer Joaquin Rodrigo recorded live in concert by Pepe Romero. The Fantasia para un Gentilhombre in a performance with the Orquesta Filarmonica de la UNAM, Manuel Goldof, conducting and the Concierto de Aranjuez, performed in Moscow with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Igor Zhukov. You may also hear Romero performing Rodrigo's Concierto para una Fiesta over on my tumblr.
I am going to return to the Naked or Nearly So genre for the Arte de l'homme on display below the play list. I have, however, endeavored in this week's selections to choose those photographs that suggest or intimate sensuality rather than blatantly smack you across the face with it. For the most part I was successful in my efforts. Meanwhile over on my tumblr you will find the Last of the Red Hot Lovers masquerading as the Hottie of the Day! Thanks for sharing a part of your weekend with me, see you again on Monday for another week of Music, Men & More! Until next time as always, Enjoy!
It was a great Sports Weekend for many reasons. Our local teams, the TCU Horned Frogs and the Dallas Cowboys both posting double digit wins in their match ups. Number 6 TCU got the ball rolling Saturday night when Junior QB sensation Trevone Boykin accounted for 4 Touchdowns in their 41-20 rout of Kansas State at Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth. The new College Football rankings come out on Tuesday and with losses by Auburn and LSU over the weekend, TCU should move up in the rankings. TCU has 3 games left against teams with losing records so they could end up 11-1 on the season and bid for a spot in the new College Football Playoff system with a possible chance at a National Championship.
The Dallas Cowboys made their trip across the pond to play at Wembley Stadium in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Dallas QB Tony Romo played an almost perfect game in his return to the line up after missing two weeks due to injury. Romo completed 20 of 27 passes for 246 yards against the Jaguars (1-9) and finished with a season-high passer rating of 138.8. DeMarco Murray posted his 9th 100 yard rushing performance in 10 games. The final score of 31-17 includes the Jaguars final 10 points in the fourth quarter when it was too late to overcome their mistakes to win the game. Pending the results of tonight's Monday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Carolina Panthers, Dallas may move ahead of Philly to claim the top spot in the NFC East once again.
In perhaps the most significant event over the weekend, at least to me, Outsports celebrated the 15th Anniversary of their first post of November 10, 1999. Outsports was the brainchild of two Gay NFL fans Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler and has grown to be the very real voice of LGBT athletes, their sports and their stories. Jim's Anniversary article How things have changed and Cyd's 15 Important Stories from our first 15 years give their readers a concise analysis of significant part Outsports has played in improving the atmosphere and outlook for LGBT athletes everywhere. Joe in Philly, who played a big part in Ousports early years, also posted his reflection on Outsports first 15 years. As a sports fan and a Gay man, Outsports has been one of the most important sites for my sports news. I have featured many of their stories in these pages and will continue to do so as they are the premier voice of the LGBT athlete in the world today. I offer my congratulations to Cyd and Jim on a job well done with wishes for a great many more years of success. Maybe someday, in part due to their role in the equation, there will be only athletes and their performances with no delineation as to orientation. Only time will tell.
Your Monday with Mozart focuses on the Quartet of which Mozart composed many for a number of different grouping of instruments. Here at Nichevo, you will hear his Piano Quartet In E-flat Major, KV 493 with a performance by the Mozartean Players. While over on Nichevo on Tumblr, you may also hear the Smithson Quartet (part of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society) performing the String Quartet Number 20 in D Major, K 499 'Hoffmeister'. The Smithson Quartet performs on period instruments and this recording from 1977 is part of a series of Classical recordings made by the Smithsonian Institution on vinyl in the late 1970's.
Then below the video is this week's edition of Monday's Undies with lots of muscly men sporting their skivvies in poses from playful to smokingly sensual. For additional underwear inspiration, check out the Abs-olutely Perfect Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr. Thanks for kicking off your week with me here at Nichevo, see you again soon, Until next time as always, Enjoy!
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