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Image:Madame Villa-Lobos and Julian Bream at the presentation of the Villa-Lobos Gold Medal, officially awarded to Mr Julian Bream in 1976-tn.jpg Julian Bream (born July 15, 1933) is a British guitarist and lutenist.

[edit] Biography

Julian Bream was born in London. Bream was brought up in a very musical environment. His father played jazz guitar and the young Bream was impressed by hearing the playing of Django Reinhardt. He was encouraged to play the piano but also the guitar (though using a plectrum). On his 11th birthday, Bream was given a classical guitar by his father. He became something of a 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. He made his debut guitar recital at Cheltenham in 1947, aged 13.

In 1951 he made his debut in the Wigmore Hall in London. After national service, he resumed a busy career, playing around the world, including annual tours in the USA and Europe for several years. He played part of a recital at the Wigmore Hall on the lute in 1952 and since has done much to bring to light music written for the instrument. 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.

In 1984 Bream was seriously injured in a car accident. It cost him great effort to regain his previous technical ability.

Bream's recitals are wide-ranging, including transcriptions from the 17th century, many pieces by Bach arranged for guitar, popular Spanish pieces, and contemporary music, much for which he was the inspiration. Many composers have worked with Bream, and among those who dedicated pieces to him are Malcolm Arnold, Richard Rodney Bennett, Benjamin Britten, Leo Brouwer, Peter Racine Fricker, Hans Werner Henze, Humphrey Searle, Toru Takemitsu, Michael Tippett and William Walton. Britten's Nocturnal is one of the most famous pieces in the classical guitar repertoire and was written with Bream specifically in mind. It is an unusual set of variations on John Dowland's Come Heavy Sleep (which is played in its original form at the close of the piece).

Bream has also taken part in many very successful collaborations, including work with Peter Pears on Elizabethan music for lute and voice, and two records of guitar duets with John Williams.

Bream's playing can be characterized as virtuosic and highly expressive, with an eye for details, and with strong use of contrasting timbres.

The above, along with his many radio and television appearances, have made Julian Bream an important ambassador for the classical guitar in the twentieth century and beyond. Despite this, many of his RCA Victor recordings (including the ground-breaking series of 20th century guitar music) are out of print - a major source of chagrin to new fans.

The DVD video profile Julian Bream: My Life In Music, released in 2003, contains three hours of interview and performance. It has been declared by Graham Wade "the finest film contribution ever to the classic guitar." His epic series Guitarra!, made for British television and charting a journey across Spain, is also now available on DVD.

Bream enjoys a reputation as a down-to-earth Londoner who likes nothing more than a pint of beer in his local pub, and who is consumed by a genuine passion for classical guitar music in all its forms.

[edit] Pieces written for Julian Bream (in chronological order)

• Reginald Smith Brindle El Polifemo de Oro (1956)
• Lennox Berkeley Sonatina, op. 52, no. 1 (1957)
• Tristram Cary Sonata (1959)
• Malcolm Arnold Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra, op. 67 (1959)
• Benjamin Britten Nocturnal after John Dowland, op. 70 (1963)
• Richard Rodney Bennett Impromptus (1968)
• Tom Eastwood Ballade-Phantasy (1968)
• Peter Racine Fricker Paseo (1969)
• Reginald Smith Brindle Variants on two themes of J. S. Bach (1970)
• Richard Rodney Bennett Guitar Concerto (1970)
• Malcolm Arnold Fantasy, op. 107 (1971)
• Alan Rawsthorne Elegy (1971)
• William Walton Five Bagatelles (1972)
• Humphrey Searle Five (1974)
• Lennox Berkeley Guitar Concerto, Op. 88 (1974)
• Hans Werner Henze Royal Winter Music (first sonata, 1976)
• Giles Swayne Suite (1976)
• Peter Maxwell Davies Hill Runes (1981)
• Michael Berkeley Sonata in One Movement (1982)
• Richard Rodney Bennett Sonata (1983)
• Michael Tippett The Blue Guitar (1984)
• Leo Brouwer Concerto elegiaco (Guitar Concerto No. 3) (1986)
• Toru Takemitsu All in Twilight (1987)
• Leo Brouwer Sonata (1990)

[edit] Awards and Recognitions (incomplete)

• 1964: Officer of the Order of the British Empire
• 1976: Villa-Lobos Gold Medal, presented by Madame Villa-Lobos
• Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance

Julian Bream & John Christopher Williams for Julian and John (Works by Lawes, Carulli, Albéniz, Granados) (1973)

• 1985: Commander of the Order of the British Empire

[edit] Partial discography

Image:Julian Bream - Villa-Lobos, Twelve Etudes for Guitar, Suite populaire bresillienne-tn.jpg

[edit] LP

• 20th Century Guitar, RCA LSC-2964
• A Bach Recital for the Guitar, Westminster
• Baroque Guitar (1966), RCA
• Collection of the Greatest Performances of Julian Bream, Vol. II, Westminster
• Concertos for Lute and Orchestra, RCA ARL1-1180
• Dances of Dowland, RCA LSC-2987
• Elizabethan Lute Songs, RCA LSC-3131
• Elizabethan Music by The Julian Bream Consort, RCA LSC-3195
• The Golden Age of English Lute Music, RCA LSC-3196
• Julian & John, RCA
• Julian Breams Greatest Hits, Westminster
• Lute Music of John Dowland, RCA ARL1-1491
• Music for Voice and Guitar with Peter Pears, RCA LSC-2718
• Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar, RCA
• Rodrigo: Concerto De Aranjuez, Berkeley Guitar Concerto (1975), RCA
• Sonatas for Lute and Harpsichord—Bach, Vivaldi with George Malcolm, RCA LSC-3100
• Villa-Lobos, Twelve Etudes for Guitar, Suite populaire bresillienne (1978), RCA
• The Woods So Wild, RCA LSC-3331

[edit] CD

• Fret Works (1990), MCA ASIN-B00000DWBQ
• Guitarra: The Guitar in Spain (1990), RCA ASIN-B000003EOU
• Joaquin Rodrigo: Concerto Elegiaco/Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre (1990), RCA ASIN-B00000E6E7
• Julian Bream plays Bach (1990), RCA ASIN-B000003EOG
• Julian Bream Plays Granados & Albéniz (Music of Spain, Volume Five) (1990), RCA ASIN-B00000E68D
• Music of Spain, Vol. 7 (1990), RCA ASIN-B00000E697
• Two Loves with Peggy Ashcroft (1990), RCA ASIN-B00000E6FM
• Baroque Guitar (1991), RCA ASIN-B000003F1J
• La Guitarra Romantica (1991), RCA ASIN-B000003F0G
• Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Villa-Lobos: Preludes (1991), RCA ASIN-B000003EPS
• Romantic Guitar (1991), RCA ASIN-B000003EQA
• Baroque Guitar (1993), RCA ASIN-B000025HGT
• A Celebration Of Andrés Segovia—Bream (1993), RCA ASIN-B000009JN3
• Highlights from the Julian Bream Edition (1993), RCA ASIN-B000003FKP
• Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Fantasía para un gentilhombre No1-5 (1993), RCA ASIN-B000003FI4
• Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Takemitsu: To the Edge of Dream with Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1993), Capitol ASIN-B00000DNS6
• Together/Julian Bream & John Williams (1993), RCA ASIN-B000003FDM
• Together Again/ Julian Bream & John Williams (1993), RCA ASIN-B000003FDN
• Villa-Lobos: Guitar Concerto; Preludes; Etudes with André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra (1993), BMG International ASIN-B000024RKH
• Bach Guitar Recital (1994), EMI Classics ASIN-B000002RU9
• Bach: Lute Suites, Trio Sonatas (1994), RCA ASIN-B000003FG2
• Guitar Concertos (1994), RCA ASIN-B000003FG4
• Julian Bream Consort, Vol. 6 (1994), RCA ASIN-B000003FFX
• Music of Spain (1994), RCA ASIN-B000003FG6
• Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar (1994), RCA ASIN-B000003FFY
• Romantic Guitar (1994), RCA ASIN-B000003FFZ
• Sonata (1995), Angel ASIN-B000002RUX
• 20th Century Guitar I (1996), RCA ASIN-B000003FG0
• The Golden Age of English Lute Music (1996), RCA ASIN-B000003FFW
• Music for Voice & Guitar (1996), RCA ASIN-B000003FG1
• Music of Spain: Milán, Narváez (1996), RCA ASIN-B000003FG5
• Popular Classics for the Spanish Guitar (1997), RCA ASIN-B000003G9U
• Julian Bream Edition, Volume 1: The Golden Age of English Lute Music (28 CDs) (1998), RCA ASIN-B000003FFV
• The Romantic Hours (1998), RCA ASIN-B000003FSG
• Spain—Sor, Vol. 24 (1998), BMG Classics ASIN-B000025HGH
• Guitar Concertos (1999), RCA ASIN-B00000HZS3
• Guitar Music by Albeniz, Vivaldi, Rodrigo & Grandos (2 CDs) (1999), RCA Classics/BMG ASIN-B00002DFHV
• Woods So Wild (1999), RCA ASIN-B00000HZS6
• Nocturnal (2000), EMI ASIN-B000002RTP
• The Ultimate Guitar Collection (2 CDs) (2000), RCA ASIN-B00004UEH6
• Duos de Guitares with John Williams (2001), RCA ASIN-B00005I9SO
• Spanish Guitar Music (remastered) (2001), Deutsche Grammaphon ASIN-B00005OLDN
• Spanish Guitar Recital (2001), RCA ASIN-B00005OC01
• Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Fantasía para un gentilhombre (remastered) (2004), RCA ASIN-B0002DD67Y
• Spanish Guitar Recital (2004), ASIN-B000026GX4

• Guitar Recital: Bach, Sor, Turina, Tippet, Schubert (2005), Testament ASIN-B0009UC6L2
• Music of Spain (2005), RCA ASIN-B0009U55QA
• Elizabethan Lute Songs, Decca ASIN-B000ICGD06
• Julian Bream & Friends, Musical Heritage Society ASIN-B000294GJK
• Lute Music from the Royal Courts of Europe, BMG Classics ASIN-B000G27DIO
• Music of Spain: The Classical Heritage, RCA ASIN-B0001GH54C

Categories: English classical guitarists | Lutenists | 1933 births | Living people