The aria from cantata BWV 36 “Soar joyfully aloft” for the first Sunday of Advent. Soprano: Nuria Rial
Advent 1. J. S. Bach, Cantata BWV 36
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Category Archives: music
As Chopin observed: Nothing is better than a guitar, save perhaps two
Here are Julian Bream and John Williams playing the exquisite Suite for 2 Guitars by William Lawes.
Lawes was a 17th century composer, son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choral at Salisbury Cathedral. He wrote quite a lot of secular and sacred music; this particular piece is probably among his best known compositions.
I saw Julian Bream in person in Cardiff in the late ‘60s; I confess, for me, the highlight of his performance was a mistake he made in something I was attempting to play at the time.
Interestingly, even though Bream and Williams are among the foremost classical guitarists of their generation, neither is a musical snob. Bream loved nothing better than to thump out some Django Reinhardt gypsy jazz with his mates and Williams has recorded many jazz and pop tunes.
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Scarborough Fair
I used to play the guitar in boozy smoked-filled folk clubs in the ‘60’s. One of the songs that was popular was Scarborough Fair, a 400 year old English ballad, arranged by guitar player Martin Carthy. Paul Simon pinched the arrangement to use on one of his albums – well, we all did, but Paul Simon committed the cardinal sin of being successful and making money out of it.
Here is the delectable Sarah Brightman singing the song with echoes of Martin Carthy’s arrangement still wafting through the lush orchestration. I have to confess, she looks a lot better than any of us.
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R.I.P. Doc Watson
My kind of Rev
Our Father in Heaven
A song I wrote a short while ago:
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Hark, the Herald Angels Sing
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Lah Di Dah
A number of years ago a friend of mine who was getting married asked me to perform this song at his wedding. I asked him if he was sure it was this song he wanted and he said yes.
To my intense disappointment, the wedding fell through. I don’t think the choice of music was entirely responsible, though.
Here is Jake Thackray, the writer of the song:
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The First Nowell
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R.I.P. Bert Jansch
From here:
Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch, a founding member of the band Pentangle and a well-known guitarist in his own right, has died at the age of 67.
Jansch, who had cancer, passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning at a hospice in Hampstead, north London.
Born in Glasgow in 1943, the musician recorded his first album in 1965 and his last, The Black Swan, in 2006.
Between 1967 and 1973 he was part of acoustic group Pentangle, best known for their 1970 hit single Light Flight.
John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox were the other original members of the band, whose albums included Basket of Light and Solomon’s Seal.
Along with John Renbourn, Bert Jansch was the inspiration that diverted my attention away from what I should have been studying in university – mathematics and philosophy – into playing the guitar.
Here he is playing one of his ingenious arrangements, best known because it was filched by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page:
Here’s another. Reynardine: