Julian Bream - B Britten Nocturnal - Passacaglia

[MrGreenbows]

I forget this is a guitar played by a maestro, and am lost in the sheer magic of the music. Are there any current guitarists that can do this?

[JapJackson]

@MrGreenbows Why don't you get off your lazy ass and find out?

[guitarjensen]

Absolutly ....... music. o am glad

[raymondjamesrivera]

I need more time with this kind of music. I'm more into guys like Tarrega and Sor, but I guess some people here would find boring. Perhaps another piece by this composer that anyone can recommend?

[pojkenmedsvartbasker]

@raymondjamesrivera the sea interludes by britten is brilliant music, especally the first, called "dawn". Does anybody know where or even if I can find a recording of bream playing this piece? Can't find it anywhere:(

[woofti]

Britten and tonality is probably something musicologists write books about, if only I were clever enough to read them. He is tonal, but he pushes tonality so far you might think it's atonal, but it isn't, the 'wrong' notes all relate to the home key, but in stranger and more beautiful ways that are quite his own. I think with Britten you have to widen your conception of tonality when you listen. He says things that are related to other things, but the relations are very strange and beautiful.

[woofti]

I love Britten's music, he speaks to me about things no-one else does. And this passacaglia is a particularly fine example of the form.

[ZBRUNETTI]

@dunholy My gosh, yeah! Leading into the six minute mark, the beauty of the piece is unrivaled in most guitar literature.

[avalokiteshivara]

Quando foi esta apresentação???

[ericmhanks]

@dunholy I'm easily bored by traditional tonality, so I can relate 100%

[woofti]

@ericmhanks I find if you listen to Britten as if he was composing using traditional tonality, which I believe he was, you get a harder kick off his musical language. Like listening to Brahms' religious music as if it were by Schutz. Britten was composing in the musical traditions he inherited, it's what he did within the traditions that makes me come. I have listened to Britten's music since my early teens and still can't get my head around the beauty of the things his music does to me.

[WilliamEGD]

Calling Bream a master of guitar is similar to calling Ghandi a pretty nice guy...

[globule200]

The Dowland's theme, as a final, is ... majestic. Bream makes his guitar cry ... it's so ... so ... no word !

[larryjohnny]

@dunholy I've changed my opinion after reading up on Britten and understanding his reason for composing these pieces ! It's actually pretty cool that we as guitarists have access to music from a major composer of our era. Until the 20th century the guitar was more or less ignored by composers of Britten's caliber !

[Chrysostomus2]

I love Britten and classic guitar, but I think this piece is not as good as I could hope.Britten's works for other instruments are quite better.

For the atonality, I'm no specialist, but I believe it's not so simple. The site of the IRCAM (in french) says his work is not atonal, but polytonal ( it's explained in detail). He is not like Berg or Schoenberg, whose pieces are of course atonal.

[delfin96]

If you don't appreciate claasical guitar music/art music then its understandable that you wouldn't like this piece. But to those of us who dedicare our time to learning the guitar and writing for the guitar this is a masterpiece played by a master musician who one can't fail to respect, at his age still playing with the clarity and firmness of a 20 yr old. If you don't like this kind of music why look it up? I never search for Rock on youtube, because I don't like it :)

[larryjohnny]

@delfin96 Well, after studying about the composers and the piece, I rather enjoy it ! Sorry for the mean remarks initially, but it was my first reaction upon hearing it !

I love the fact that he pays homage to John Dowland and includes the melodies of his original compositions at the end of each piece. The Nocturnal is about different types of sleep... uneasy, restless, agitated, dreaming, etc..

It a shame that you have to read about the music for it to make sense but I guess it worth it !

[delfin96]

@larryjohnny not to worry about it, everyone is at a certain place at a certain time. I once heard a student perform this at music college and he just didnt convey the music to me, hearing Bream play it brought it to life.

[interceptor6]

@larryjohnny

my previous teacher wrote his script about this piece. 112 pages about nocturnal by Britten. after reading that, this has become one of my favourite pieces. it's genious...

[larryjohnny]

I agree this is good stuff to refresh the sound palette... Now, Luciano Berio's Sequenzi XI, are you also a fan of that piece ? I can't stand that one man.. or how about Elliot Carter's Changes piece ? I'm struggling to enjoy those works that's for sure... They really tend to make me feel very angry since they are so highly acclaimed yet I can't enjoy a moment of it !

I like this piece Nocturnal and I also dig Ginastera's Sonata op.47, and Takemitsu's Folios ! What do you think of these..

[yuvalll35]

he looks very old here

what is age?

[Nokturno4]

he was born in 1933

[mars7272]

I believe this was taken from a private performance in 2003, which would make him 70 here.

[cshargeit]

i dont think it was atonal. it was in the key of g. the rest was note / key variations by use of picardi thirds and bla bla gimmicks. to say i am pretentious is absurd. go back to school.

[cshargeit]

yes my good friend benjamin britten.. it starts out too much on the e string. e minor. crap -- i dare benjamin to a composition challenge. i play it myself

[capnpayne]

what in the hell are you talking about

[thejugglenaut91]

what are you talking about? This is an atonal work. Starts out too much on the e string? Which part. The theme is played on the e string only when in the upper positions.

Pretentious asshole. You do realize benjamin britten is one of the best right? And here's this nobody, who doesn't know his shit, talking trash!

[penp26]

great sound recording from the guitar

[pengeaumont270508]

He doesnt quite look as assured technically as he used to, but who really cares. Its amazing music!

[fightinboner]

Unbelievable.

[DaRQsiDe]

I don't think I will ever play it like Juliam, especially after 3.57...

[Yuriy21]

Britten - the talented composer, and Bream - the ingenious guitarist! Bravo!

[MrTomekat87]

beautiful

[Nietopyrz360]

I'm usually a big musical conservative but this is actually a great piece of music!

[gulosian]

It descends down below in the deep of your soul where you keep silence and teatrs.

[thejugglenaut91]

i agree totally, i think it goes to show how good of a composer britten is!

[capnpayne]

I heard that Britney Spears is doing a cover of this for her next album.

[capnpayne]

Sorry for providing a free service to the needy

[larryjohnny]

yeah, i guess we didn't take the pills to be "drones" and pretend like this is soooo great !

maybe we will get lucky and britney will burn the score too ! lol

[capnpayne]

this is actually one of my favorite pieces of all time

[interceptor6]

@larryjohnny

no pills, but years of education, work and open minded listening to all kinds of music, and trying to understand before making retarded remarks.

there's a lot of jazz that makes me crazy, that doesn't make me say it's awful, maybe, i just don't understand the music, i've not grown into the style enough.

try to be a little less narrow minded, and if you can't appreciate this, just don't listen, no one makes you

[larryjohnny]

@interceptor6 believe it or not I actually am starting to appreciate this piece of music. I was forced by my music conservatory to do a report on Benjamin Britten and it has given me a different perspective on this piece. I like the fact that Britten rejected the modernist ideology that 20th century music had to aspire to a nearly incomprehensible language of expression !

The beauty of this piece is that both amateurs and seasoned professionals can enjoy it !

[delfin96]

@larryjohnny no you did take the pills and you are a drone

[deude8pool]

Does anyone know what is the piece of john dowland he plays at the end ?

Thank you

[thejugglenaut91]

it's come heavy sleep... nocturnal is actually kind of a variation on that theme and it comes back to it in the end

[iwatt]

To tarquin161234, Benjamin Britten's music takes much less random paths than that of Albeniz (not that there is anything wrong with Albeniz), but this excerpt is out of context as it is part of a set of variations. If you listen to the piece in its entirety then perhaps you'll change your mind.

[tarquin161234]

Good answer I will do that if I can find the set on youtube.

It is becoming more and more likely in my mind that I am too lazy to make the effort to discover and decypher a new form of music, and that I am probably missing out on a part of the repetoir which is just as valuable as the rest.

The best way for me to hear music can be to play it, so maybe I should do that.

[GaryOguitar]

A master interpreter you are Mr. Bream!

Thank you for sharing your great gift!

[gitarrenmart]

Beautiful. It's just a light from heaven, when the Passacaglia ends up in Downlands "Come, Heavy Sleep".

[capnpayne]

Honestly, I think you'd be best off reserving any judgment until you've studied a great deal of classical music in detail. This is not accessible music.

[tarquin161234]

The only reason this kind of music ever sounds good is because the interpretters are so good. Otherwise this modern music is downright horrible most of the time.

This piece in particular is not too bad as it has some structure to it, but Ginastera as mentioned below is just revolting.

Why on earth would any composer aspire to making music of this sort, when he could aim his abilities at making music like Albeniz's.

Bring the discussion!

[capnpayne]

The fact that it doesn't "sound good" is your own failing, not the composers'.

You're never going to appreciate this type of music if you're dead set on being pleased only by traditional harmony and structure. It's a different thing entirely!

[tarquin161234]

I can understand why you all like this: it is a piece of music, it has a story to it, and everything you might find in traditional harmony.

I'm inexperienced in classical music, and I find the musical structure Albeniz (for example) used much more beautiful and impressive than the seemingly random paths this music takes.

To me it seems as though Aleniz had total control over his compositions, through pure understanding of key changes and all the effects of different rythms, unlike this.

[spyd3rman360]

Albeniz didn't write particularly impressive things. It'sbeautiful, and challenging to play, but theoretically not all that amazing. Also, he used a lot of Spanish folk idioms. Modern music is very far from random. If you continue to study music, you will learn about all the different things, like atonality, 12-tone serialism, and the like. And your ear will develop to recognize these things.

[tarquin161234]

I'm not really bothered about how impressive music is in terms of raw theory bla bla, what I like is beautiful music. Albeniz's music is stunningly beautiful; this music (subject) requires effort to find beauty in to the perhaps less educated ear (large majority).

Albeniz's's music is very impressive in the way he chooses the right key changes to carry his emotional ideas, and seemlessly integrates them into the rythms and structures of the song (amongst many other things!)..

[spyd3rman360]

Yeah. And in that sense comes the aspect someone else pointed out of if people write for themselves, or for the majority of people. Bach was under contract to put out popular music, so he did. I had to write a little catchy tune to go as a soundtrack for something the other day. Did I push limits? No. I followed a I-vi-ii-V progression, and it sounds great. But it's more fun to push boundaries. That's all I'm saying.

[purplorange]

The point is that art is supposed to reflect the times in which it was created, and in the early twentieth century, the beginning of modernism in music, different approaches had to be used, some more, some less complex than tonal music. People will say, "I like this piece, but it isn't saying anything that hasn't been said before," and that's the real problem with composing as if it were 200 years ago. Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky etc. were all radicals in their own times.

[clones98]

Because it is what I wish to write. There is some misconception that a composer must write for an audience. I disagree. A composer writes for themselves first and foremost. How else can judgments necessary for the act of creation be made? Modern classical music, in my opinion, suits the age in which we live. If you can find beauty in the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the killing fields of Cambodia, or the many lost persons of Argentina, please.... enlighten us.

[delfin96]

@tarquin161234 i suppose in your humble opinion everyone should compose like your boyfriend - Albenith

[jukeh]

I'd love to know when and where this wonderful recording was made. What a treat!

[ZabArabZarak]

This type of modern music can only be played by such a master like julian bream!!.........simplemente hermoso

[gmichaelt]

I seem to alternate in my feelings for this piece. Sometimes I think it's a wonderfully evocative movement and other times the most overrated collection of noises ever written.

I don't feel it is the pinnacle of modern guitar music at anytime though.

What I always feel is that Julian Bream is one of the most complete musicians ever. I'm sure he was sent to test us mere mortals.

Thanks for posting this video.

[edmondsm82]

Really. I think this is some of the best modern music written for the instrument. I never get sick of listening to it. Most overrated collection of noises ever written? Wow, I have the exact opposite opinion.

[AlexM1979]

For a modern composition, I think it is quite nice. Ginastera is much much much much harder to swallow...

[larryjohnny]

@edmondsm82 I agree, my opinion has changed, it's funny that I had to study for 2-3 hours about Britten in order to enjoy this piece, but I guess it's just very advanced stuff! I was happy to hear about Britten's pacifist views and notable achievements like reviving the English Opera with his 1945 success of Peter Grimes. Above all he imbued his works with his personal concerns and I think the feelings communicated by these pieces reflect his personality quite well ! Some dark secrets too !

[guitarmanchester]

where is the rest of the piece!!!

[chirpybee]

This was all that was presented of the piece on Bream's DVD - it has been lifted from there. I love Breams description of the piece (on the DVD) as not being impossible but "impossibly difficult". Lovely piece of music. Very beautifully performed.

[yesfan951]

Beautiful!

[tamada73]

Bream è il poeta della chitarra

[UmbralSea]

You have to understand the theme. It seems to be a sort of reflection on insomnia and the aggravated thoughts(hence the repeated bass line and spastic variations) a person would have while trying to sleep. The Dowland transcription at the end is the culmination of the entire piece, and I think it represents finally falling asleep.

[TroyLennerd]

By definition a Passacaglia denotes a short, usually rapid musical work in any metre. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the word came to mean a set of ground-bass or ostinato variations, usually of a serious character; Hence, the repeating Bass line. The bass line may be a reflection of such programatic interpretations, but this music is based first and foremost on a very sound understanding of composition. Stravinsky once said, there is no emotion in music (Think about that).

[TroyLennerd]

Zaj0rcist How about you try a study of new music in general, it's obvious that you just don't hear the relationships that Britten has set up in the work. Complex pitch relationships in a semi atonal setting don't just jump out at you in the beginning; so your perception that Britten lacks direction and coherence is basically blurred by your inability to actually hear how he has organized the work. IT's not Britten that is the problem, it's you.

[zaj0rcrist]

Fred Hand just schooled me on this at my lesson today haha. your totally right. :)

[TroyLennerd]

Hey ZajOrcist,

Happy to hear your studying with Fred Hand, I've met him a couple of times and I know his wife fairly well. We have friends in common. Your in good hands (no pun intended) with Fred Hand. Happy to hear your so open minded, very rare indeed. Keep up the good work!

[Pitcairn2]

Zaj0rcrist Try and listen to some of Brittens other work such as 'Simple Symphony' 'War Requiem' and 'a ceremony of Carols' and you will see what a good composer he was.

[zaj0rcrist]

I agree that i was hasty in saying this is just a composition of random shit, but you have to understand why one might find this musically obscure or rather jarring. Dont get me wrong, I've actaually come to truly enjoy certain aspects of this piece a lot more after a couple of listens, and it's not the dissonance thats throwing me off, it's just the lack of direction or coherance i feel that bothers me.

[Pitcairn2]

Britten was born a mile away from my house in Lowestoft (Suffolk) and I remember him when I was very young (he came to our school) He didnt compose random shit as you put it it is based on a John Dowland work 'come heavy sleep'.

While a lot of Ben Brittens work is seen as avante gard this piece played by the Master Bream is one of his best in my opinion.

[zaj0rcrist]

julian bream is amazing but you con't just compose random shit and have a great guitarist play it passionately so people think you're a good composer.

[clucaspik]

The whole Nocturnal is amazing - this is the last movement -based on Come Heavy Sleep - my favorite Dowland song.

[danielmagli]

Fantastico ! great music and great guitarist,

thank you for this video

grazie

[loofascraper]

I like Bream. Hate Britten's music. It's horrible

[Pitcairn2]

Not all. some is quite discordant but he did write some pretty good pieces.

[scionpol]

Amazing. I adore Bream!!!

[giaian1]

Bream con questo brano mi ha portato in un'altra dimensione.

[SixStringGunSlinger]

bream is looking older here... stilll palys great.

[sebassabes84]

kind of weird playing britten and then john dowland, but as a far as i could see, as a lute virtuoso, bream is an enthusiastic performer of dowland and of renaissance.wow!!

[Zeitschichten]

That's exactly what's in Britten's score. The whole piece is based on this song by Dowland. And Britten cites it at the end of his Nocturnal.

It's so great!

[BbMinor]

Go, Julian, go!

You are such a wonderful person and player of the guitar.

Wish I could meet you in person. <3

[Alhambra22]

this is so futuristic and sureal

[lmcash1]

I bet eddie van halen would beat this broom guy in a fight. boring! plus he has fingernails like a girl.

[john477h]

fuck off

[nyc3299]

You're beyond stupid.....

[nyc3299]

still REALLY stupid....nothing you can do about it, unfortunately.

[31041955]

That is quite unlikely!

[RobAinsley]

Well, Bream is 74 and van Halen 52, so it'd hardly be a fair fight. In the unlikely event of them meeting, I think they'd actually get on rather well: outstanding musicians such as these tend to respect other outstanding musicians, regardless of genre. And I suspect they'd both think you're a tosser.

[ludowicovan]

Hey, what's Van Halen to do with Bream? What are you saying?

[symodiezel]

LMAO, this guy is just having a joke, seeing what responses he gets, i thought it was pretty funny actually, good one cash lol, all joking aside i agree that the two would get on well,and Van Halen would have the utmost respect for Julian as he knows more about music than you do cash, but youre good at jokes so be happy with that man.

[IsmaelAliCatalan]

was a funny comment if meant jokingly. But because of the rumors i;ve heard about van halen he would probably wouldnt be as respectable as you would think. He would probably be drunk, grab his guitar and start play eruption.

[Admortisnostrae]

you Idiot

[ludowicovan]

Thank you Julian Bream, unfortunately also musicians like you get old. Anyway, your poetry shines bright evan through the years. This work is a masterpiece and is too rarely played.

[oldguitarguy]

Segovia did not like the Nocturnal.

Bream has become old - hardly any hair left - , but he still is great.

[amanita9]

Segovia didn't like much of anything that wasn't traditional.

[rhizom123]

to speak open: i hate the sound of the classical guitar and most of repertoire , is second-rate.

but this piece is a monster ! and i always loved julian bream's

tone and playing !

[corinneiscool]

how could you hate the sound of classical guitar?!

[31041955]

after all the rift raft performances I 've seen on youtube, finally there is one to talk about. When the Dowland theme was started I simply cried like a baby.

[viandante]

This is, IMHO, one of the greatest achievements of music making upon the guitar. Bream is a fortunate man, having this to his credit and having played it as well as it one can conceive.

[ahmetgm]

Bream is legend!

[antoniomac5]

Very good player for a very absurd music.

[imzvivace]

There is a lot of brilliance in composing a set of variations before a theme, which was certainly novel at the time Britten did it. We were lucky back in the day to even have this piece commissioned, and if you ever have the chance, it's worth seeking out earlier Bream recordings of this work.

[lovesIppol]

A set of variations that finally arrives at the theme instead of starting with it is a highly unusual and effective idea, but there is a precedent: the Symphonic Variations 'Istar', op. 42 (1896) by Vincent d'Indy.

[31041955]

Vincent d'Indy? Sounds like Nascar!

[pantok07]

this piece is so moveing its like a man with a nagging wife{the incessant descending bass figure} which ends in a compromise by the way I believe segovia dissed Barrios for the same reasons you postulate. although whats not to like about "la catedral" or any of barrioses pieces? Segovia was a bit narrow minded to say the least! Ida presti would have played them wonderfully!

[peplicus]

When i first heard this piece (I was very young), I thought it was awful. Now that I have listened to it over and over, especially Bream´s version, I think it is fantastic. The architecture and conception are breathless, but it takes an artist like Bream to pull it off. Neither Segovia, nor Yepes could have ever done justice to this piece.

[mars7272]

True. Segovia would never have placed this anyway he did not like minimalist/atonal music, as so many composers had written minimalist music for him but he just refused it.

[entr0py1]

i agree, segovia was too much about the "advancement of the guitar" that i think he chose pieces that would showcase is "virtuosity" and not those that could portray the guitar's full spectrum of color.

[peplicus]

Well, Yepes could have because he played and understood the spirit of modern music and was truly a 20th-century guitarrist, unlike Segovia. I think that players like Romero, Parkening and others of the more romantic school would never approach this music. But the piece defintely belongs to Bream despite other fine renditions out there.

[marlonguitarist]

Definetely Julian Bream was one of the leading performers of the guitar. His touch was always accurate and musically correct. Unfortunately he is old now but he will linger on as one of the best guitarits ever.

[kiwisdad1]

This was 'his', written for him... he has forgotten 10x's what I will ever know. I don't want him to pass on... but that day grows ever closer, for us all. I wish for a time when I could have been with him, in person, to some how draw from what he has... He is my inspiration to work hard but be humbled by what he accomplished.

[entr0py1]

right on!